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Dr. Deborah Birx, who served as White House coronavirus response coordinator during the Trump administration, said on Sunday that the fact that early data on the COVID-19 pandemic came from Europe should be an “indictment of our system.”
During an appearance on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” moderator Margaret Brennan noted earlier remarks from Birx that she did not trust the data she received from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during her tenure, specifically pointing to delays in information regarding the race and ethnicity of COVID fatalities.
“First and foremost, in March of 2020, all of our data that I used to warn Americans of who was at risk for severe disease, hospitalization, and deaths came from our European colleagues,” Birx replied. “That in itself should be an indictment of our system.”
Birx also said that her requests to CDC to improve its system and develop partnerships with clinics, hospitals, and laboratories went unheeded.
“The private sector is willing to help us, you know, they have people working in these communities. They want everyone to do well to thrive and survive,” Birx said. “And so I think we’re just not tapping into the system that the United States utilizes for health care delivery and because of that, there’s extraordinary delays, and critically, there’s incomplete data.”
Birx’s remarks come after CDC Director Rochelle Walensky announced last week that the agency plans to overhaul its system, saying that “it didn’t meet expectations” following an internal review of the agency’s shortcomings in its COVID-19 response.
When asked about on Sunday the latest CDC changes, Birx said that transparency is key for the agency to rebuild its trust with the public.
“Well, the way you rebuild public trust is be transparent. And I think that’s in the report: better data, better accountability, better transparency. But they also have to believe, and this gets to the culture piece, people can understand complicated issues,” Birx said. “It’s your job as a public health official.”
Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/3609714-birx-says-early-pandemic-warnings-came-from-europe-that-in-itself-should-be-an-indictment-of-our-system/
- More than 1 million homes and businesses lost power at the height of the storm Monday night.
- Storm-related deaths were reported in Michigan, Ohio and Arkansas.
- Dangerous storms could blast eastern cities Tuesday.
A wall of storms that roared through a swath of the Midwest and South with heavy rains, hail and wind gusts of up to 80 mph killed at least three people and knocked out power to more than 1 million homes and businesses at the height of the tempest.
The storms could bring more havoc to the East later Tuesday and beyond. Downpours and dangerous wind gusts were possible in Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia, Accuweather warned.
In Michigan, police in Monroe said a 14-year-old girl died after touching a downed power line. About 60 miles north in the Detroit suburb of Warren, an 8-year-old boy was severely burned after trying to swing from a hanging live wire, the Detroit Free Press reported. He and his brother were hospitalized. The storm knocked down about 3,000 power lines in the state, the newspaper said.
In Ohio, Toledo Fire and Rescue said a woman was killed when a tree fell on her. In Arkansas, an 11-year-old boy was swept into a storm drain and died, authorities said, and a 47-year-old woman who tried to help him was rescued and hospitalized.
More than 500,000 power customers were in the dark in Indiana during the worst part of the storm Monday night, although the number had dropped to about 4,000 by Tuesday afternoon. In Michigan, 361,000 homes and businesses remained without power by 2 p.m., according to the tracking website PowerOutage.
Consumers Energy, which provides electricity to more than half of Michigan residents, said 350 crews were working to restore power. Downed trees, limbs and power lines were reported in more than three dozen counties.
The company said it hoped a majority of homes and businesses would have power restored by Wednesday night.
“Yesterday’s severe storms packed a big punch as they pushed through our state,” Consumers Energy said in a Facebook post. “Today’s dry and hazard-free weather conditions are on our side.”
Indiana and Michigan saw some of the strongest winds, including 81 mph gusts in Lowell, Indiana, 70 mph gusts at Detroit’s City Airport and a 66 mph gust reported in Holland, Michigan, according to AccuWeather data. Hail and downed trees were reported in several states; large hail was reported in central Illinois.
Accuweather said the storm system rolled from Iowa to Ohio before heading eastward into Pennsylvania, pounding the region with bursts of heavy rain and intense wind gusts. Tens of thousands of outages were reported in Pennsylvania and New York.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency after excessive rainfall damaged one of Jackson’s water-treatment plants and caused low water pressure through much of the city. He also warned the capital city’s 150,000 residents not to drink the water because it’s unsafe.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/08/30/midwest-storms-michigan-indiana-power-outages/7937311001/