Birx, in CT, extols masks but gives Trump a pass
HARTFORD — Give Dr. Deborah Birx credit for trying to bring to the nation a common-sense message of distancing and mask-wearing based on science. And give her credit for not trashing her boss, who’s undermining her life’s work.
On second thought, maybe the White House coronavirus adviser and former AIDS policy chief should call up the courage to tell her true story instead of pretending President Donald Trump’s desperate mockery of COVID-19 doesn’t exist.
Birx showed up at the UConn campus in Hartford Thursday, the 32nd state on the Get Dr. Birx The Hell Out of the White House Tour.
She delivered her message of carefully studying how COVID spreads — indoors, in small groups these days, not in workplaces — in three meetings including a one-onone with Gov. Ned Lamont. Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and UConn President Thomas Katsouleas headed other groups that met with her
He main point: “The spread of the virus now is not occurring so much in the workplaces, as people have taken precautions. It’s happening in homes and social occasions as people are gathering and taking their masks off and letting down their guard and not physically distancing.”
She hailed Connecticut and the Northeast for providing information during the horrific period when we lost thousands of residents — intel that saved lives in the rest of the country and helped cut the death rate by three-quarters.
Then she met with the media and told us that yes, she has given Trump the same warning she gives everyone. And yes, it’s more .important than ever to stay vigilant.
“The great thing through this whole time period is we have been able to give our best public health and scientific advice to leadership and we continue to do that,” she declared. “And I continue to do that every day whether it’s the governor, whether it’s the president, and whether it’s members of the community.”
And yes, she does respect the virus, in contrast to her boss.
“I have a deep respect for this particular virus because of its level of asymptomatic contagion,” said Birx, whose trademark scarf on a crisp morning in an outdoor courtyard signaled the dangerous indoor gathering season and the big family holidays.
Four times, she repeated the new mantra: Stay socially engaged, physically distant.
Earlier estimates that 17 percent of COVID spread is from people without symptoms has been upped to 40 percent and even that might be too low, she said. On colleges campuses it may be 85 percent.
“The White House knows what my message is,” she said, “and they are promoting me to be out here with you all to tell you this message.”
Promoting her, that is, to make sure she’s nowhere near Ground Zero of COVID — the White House — where she might undermine Trump’s only hope of a victory on Nov. 3: persuading voters the danger is over.
Here’s a little quiz: Which has more impact? One of the two nationally famous public health officials traveling across the nation for four months imploring people to take the virus seriously and wear masks even in private settings — or a president who stands, gasping for air, sick with COVID-19, making a show of removing his mask and entering an indoor space full of people as tens of millions watched on every TV network?
That has to be frustrating for Dr. Deborah Birx.
Birx would be able to talk about her reactions, her interactions and her feelings precisely once before Trump fired her. Or could he, this close to the election? At this point, she might be safe in speaking her mind publicly.
We hoped it would happen in Hartford but alas, not. We posed the same question six ways. My feeble entry was to ask how she felt and whether she had been able to talk with Trump since he contracted the virus, was hospitalized and was put on mega-drugs that indicate severe illness.
“I’ve been on the road so I have not been in conversations specifically with any of the leadership,” she said. “But I would certainly not engage with leaders when they are battling an illness at this time. He has a whole team responsible for his illness and I’m not part of that team.”
Lamont later said Trump’s stunts — including declaring COVID-19 nothing to worry about — “didn’t come up, surprisingly enough.”
The governor said he keeps straight who’s who when it comes to coronavirus policy. “There’s a political group on the COVID task force and there’s a scientific team,” he said, adding that Birx “knows the importance of doing it right.”
Birx heard from UConn scientists looking at wastewater for clues to spreading, urging them to take the effort statewide. In short, her approach is all science, no politics other than doing what she must to keep her job.
She could step it up and make a bigger difference.
Birx did hammer home the point that indoor exposure in small groups — not workplaces — is where the danger lies heading into cold weather. We’re seeing slight but notable increases in infection rates, hospitalization and total cases per million people, and if we wait for those measures to spike, she warned, it’s too late.
“When humidity decreases, those droplets that we all can feel now inside of our masks ... may evaporate some of the water and that may allow them to stay suspended longer,” she said. “And so indoor activities with the heat on is particularly conducive to spreading events without using a mask.”
The message is clear. Wear a mask, crack a window, stay apart. A rebuke of her boss who sends the opposite message? Too much to ask. Now it’s up to the nation to do the right thing.