Former White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx believes that hundreds of thousands of deaths “could have been mitigated” in the pandemic’s earlier stages.
During a CNN documentary, which is scheduled to air on Sunday, Birx was asked how much of an impact early mitigation measures would have had on the pandemic.
“Well, look at it this way. The first time, we have an excuse, there were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge,” Birx said. “All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.”
Birx comment comes one year after the country continues battles with the COVID-19 pandemic. Birx was tasked with leading the nation’s coronavirus response under former President Trump and has been outspoken about her time in the White House and her concerns as the nation gets through the coronavirus pandemic. She is now a fellow at the George W. Bush Institute.
According to Johns Hopkins University, there have been 30.1 million cumulative coronavirus infections in the U.S. as of Saturday. Over 548,000 Americans have lost their lives to the virus.
Over 140 million coronavirus vaccines have been given, and data pulled from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 15.1% of the population has been vaccinated.
Birx told ABC News earlier this month that she still has concerns about the asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 after “having lived through the June and July surge” of COVID-19.
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