A top White House coronavirus advisor is sounding a dire alarm over the ongoing, record-high surge in coronavirus cases in the country, warning, “We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic”—a warning that President Donald Trump is openly disregarding.
In a November 2 internal report leaked to The Washington Post, White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx wrote that the United States will likely see more than 100,000 new cases a day this week. The surge will lead to “increasing mortality” in the coming weeks and months. She called upon the administration to take “much more aggressive action.”
“This is not about lockdowns,” Dr. Birx noted bluntly. “It hasn’t been about lockdowns since March or April. It’s about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented.”
Administration officials noted to the Post that Birx’s memos have been grave for some time. In another leaked internal report from October 17, she wrote of the increasing hospitalizations, fatalities, and emergency room visits. She also pushed back on President Trump’s repeated claim that increases are due to increases in testing. “This is not due to increased testing but broad and ever-increasing community spread,” she wrote.
She even went so far as to highlight in bold this sentence: “There is an absolute necessity of the Administration to use this moment to ask the American people to wear masks, physical distance, and avoid gatherings in both public and private spaces.”
But the warnings and recommendations have demonstrably had little effect on Trump and his officials. Trump has continued to send mixed messages on masks and hold rallies during his presidential campaign, which have brought thousands of his—mostly maskless—supporters together. He held two rallies on October 17, the day Birx sent one of her dire reports.
The Post also noted that Trump plans to host 300 to 400 people inside the White House Tuesday evening to watch the election results, violating the District of Columbia’s coronavirus guidance. The city currently prohibits indoor mass gatherings of more than 50 people.
