In a Thursday evening interview with the Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier for Special Report, Dr. Deborah Birx, of the Coronavirus Task Force subtlety and adeptly placed the blame on China for trying to cover up the existence of the coronavirus. She also shot down the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda that claimed the virus had started in the United States; effectively doing what many liberal media outlets refused to do.
Addressing a question about whether or not she believed China’s recent claims that they have had no new domestic infection cases, Dr. Birx showed a flash of skepticism when she did not directly say yes. Instead, she compared their trend line to South Korea’s.
“You know, if you watch the trend lines over time, and if you watch them as you line them up with South Korea they’re very similar. So, at this point, at this moment, we would believe those data,” she said.
But she followed up by noting that China had refused to warn the world about what they knew was spreading out of control within their borders. “I think everyone is still concerned about why we weren't alerted earlier,” she added.
Several minutes later and after a commercial break, Baier wanted to know what information President Trump saw that caused him to change his tone when speaking publically about the virus. “I think it was a combination of factors. All along he’s been looking at the data. And I think we were all encouraged by the data coming in from China and South Korea, but then when we started to see the data coming in from Italy and what it means when you don’t respond really urgently,” Birx explained.
She then touted how Trump’s decision to restrict airport travel from China and later Europe “prevented what we would call a lot of seeding of new cases into the United States.”
It was then that she wanted to remind the public that the virus did not originate in the United States, but was brought to our shores. “Remember, three or four months ago there – this virus was not in America. So it’s come to the American shores. So decreasing the travel and preventing those travelers from bringing in more virus was critical,” she said.
Dr. Birx reiterated that it was the horrific numbers that came out of Europe that lit a fire under everyone to mobilize:
But once you could see how in Europe the virus was dramatically expanding, and really has concerned of the elderly and the particularly vulnerable groups in that higher mortality – the higher deaths among those with preexisting conditions, I think everyone was very compelled, including the President, in reviewing the data.
These subtle rebukes of the CCP narrative were far more than what much of the liberal media have been doing. In recent days, MSNBC decried Trump for “blaming China” for the virus outbreak, while ABC and NBC called him “racist” for using the term “Chinese virus.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
March 19, 2020
6:08:55 p.m. Eastern(…)
BRET BAIER: Do you believe the Chinese report that there are no new transmissions in the Wuhan province? No local transmissions today?
DR. DEBORAH BIRX: You know, if you watch the trend lines over time, and if you watch them as you line them up with South Korea they’re very similar. So, at this point, at this moment, we would believe those data. I think everyone is still concerned about why we weren't alerted earlier.
(…)
6:23:23 p.m. Eastern
BAIER: Just to take the people inside some of the debate there at the White House. What, in your mind, was the moment that changed the President’s tone? You know, he had obviously evolved in how he talked about this over weeks and just how he expressed it. And then we saw him Monday and Tuesday with a really, completely different tone.
Was it that U.K. study that showed if we didn’t do anything 2.2 million Americans could die?
BIRX: I think it was a combination of factors. All along he’s been looking at the data. And I think we were all encouraged by the data coming in from China and South Korea, but then when we started to see the data coming in from Italy and what it means when you don’t respond really urgently. So, with the airport closures to both China and then Europe, we prevented what we would call a lot of seeding of new cases into the United States.
Remember, three or four months ago there – this virus was not in America. So it’s come to the American shores. So decreasing the travel and preventing those travelers from bringing in more virus was critical.
But once you could see how in Europe the virus was dramatically expanding, and really has concerned of the elderly and the particularly vulnerable groups in that higher mortality – the higher deaths among those with preexisting conditions, I think everyone was very compelled, including the President, in reviewing the data.
(…)
