‘Deadly’ Phase of Pandemic Looms, White House Advisor Birx Warns

TUESDAY, Nov. 3, 2020 (HealthDay News) — The pandemic is entering a new and “deadly” phase and the United States needs to adopt a more aggressive approach to curbing the spread of COVID-19, the White House coronavirus response coordinator warned Monday.

In a private memo to White House officials, Deborah Birx, M.D., painted a grim picture: “Cases are rapidly rising in nearly 30 percent of all USA counties, the highest number of county hotspots we have seen with this pandemic,” the memo said, according to The Washington Post. “Half of the United States is in the red or orange zone for cases despite flat or declining testing.”

“We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic,” Birx wrote. “This is not about lockdowns — it hasn’t been about lockdowns since March or April. It’s about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented.”

The latest case counts suggest Birx is right: More than 9.2 million Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and the seven-day average of new daily COVID-19 infections in the United States hit a new high of 81,740 on Sunday, The Post reported.

The Washington Post Article