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Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, declined to criticize President Donald Trump's comment about injecting disinfectants into people, saying the news media should move on from the incident, as the furor over his suggestion continues.
At Thursday's White House briefing, Trump said scientists should explore whether inserting ultraviolet light or disinfectant into the bodies of people infected with the coronavirus might help them clear the disease.
His comment has horrified medical professionals and raised fresh concerns that his stream-of-consciousness briefings could push frightened people to poison themselves with untested treatments.
Doctors and experts have since urged people not to drink or inject disinfectant.
In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Birx said the president's tendency to muse aloud about his ideas as he processes new information and people are missing the bigger picture of how to respond to the virus.
Birx said Trump was engaged in a "dialogue" with William Bryan, the acting head of science at the Department of Homeland Security, about a study detailing the use of light and disinfectants to help kill the coronavirus on surfaces.
Asked whether as a doctor she is bothered to have to spend time discussing this, Birx said she has made it clear that this was a "musing" and it bothers her that it's still in the news cycle.
"It bothers me that this is still in the news cycle, because I think we're missing the bigger pieces of what we need to be doing as an American people to continue to protect one another," Birx said. "As a scientist and a public health official and a researcher, sometimes I worry that we don't get the information to the American people that they need when we continue to bring up something that was from Thursday night."
"We should be having that dialogue about asymptomatics. We should be having that dialogue about this unique clotting that we're seeing."
The last package of Lysol disinfectant wipes sits on a shelf at the Piggly Wiggly on North Avenue in Athens, Ga., March 13, 2020. /AP
Birx's comments came after Trump skipped the White House daily briefings on the COVID-19 over the weekend.
On Saturday, he tweeted the briefings were "not worth the time effort and "Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions."
On Sunday, he said in a couple of tweets that he's a hard-working president and worked from morning until late night in the White House.
"The people that know me and know the history of our Country say that I am the hardest working President in history. I don't know about that, but I am a hard worker and have probably gotten more done in the first 3 1/2 years than any President in history. The Fake News hates it!"
Briefings without Trump?
Meanwhile, Trump's aides are aiming to move the presidenton to more familiar – and safer, they hope – ground: talking up the economy, in tighter controlled settings, Associated Press reported.
Trump's aides have been utilizing the daily briefings to highlight positive trends and to overwhelm Americans with statistics, but now the White House is deliberating whether to continue the hold news briefings in a modified form without the president, who tweeted on Saturday they were "not worth the time effort."
"What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately."
AP says the pivot is a political imperative as allies have seen an erosion in support for the president. What had been his greatest asset in the reelection campaign, his ability to blanket news headlines with freewheeling performances, has become a daily liability.
In this March 20, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump listens as White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx speaks during a coronavirus task force briefing at the White House in Washington. /AP
At the same time, new Republican Party polling shows Trump's path to a second term depends on the public's perception of how quickly the economy rebounds from the state-by-state shutdowns meant to slow the spread of the virus.
Plans are being drawn up for a limited schedule of travel within the next few weeks, an aide said. It would be a symbolic show that the nation is beginning to reopen.
On Monday, the White House was expected to release a recap of what the federal government has done so far to improve the availability of COVID-19 testing, personal protective equipment and ventilators.
(AP)
