WHITE HOUSE PRIVATELY WARNS 11 CITIES MUST TAKE "AGGRESSIVE" ACTION IN CORONAVIRUS FIGHT

[BigmanPigman]

Source: Center For Public Integrity

New red flags about the severity of the coronavirus outbreak come after Trump focused on upsides in televised briefing. Dr. Deborah Birx, a leader of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, warned state and local leaders in a private phone call Wednesday that 11 major cities are seeing increases in the percentage of tests coming back positive for COVID-19 and should take “aggressive” steps to mitigate their outbreaks.
The cities she identified were Baltimore, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

What started out very much as a southern and western epidemic is starting to move up the East Coast into Tennessee, Arkansas, up into Missouri, up across Colorado, and obviously we’re talking about increases now in Baltimore,” she said. “So this is really critical that everybody is following this and making sure they’re being aggressive about mitigation efforts.”

It’s unclear who heard the warnings and was invited to the call, which was hosted by the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and closed to the press. Baltimore and Cleveland were two of the cities Birx warned were facing rising test positivity, but a spokeswoman for the Cleveland mayor’s office, Nancy Kelsey-Carroll, said they did not participate in the call.

The call was yet another private warning about the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreaks given to local officials but not the public at large. It came less than a week after the Center for Public Integrity revealed that the White House compiled a detailed report showing 18 states were in the “red zone” for coronavirus cases but did not release it publicly.

Read more: https://publicintegrity.org/health/coronavirus-and-inequality/warning-from-birx-11-cities-must-take-coronavirus-aggressive-efforts/

[George II]

1. Guess it wasn't so private, eh? They even screw that up, too!

[Ferrets are Cool]

2. They, meaning this administration, has no fucking clue as to what to do

or how to curb this pandemic. If they did, they already would have in order to glean the praise they believe it would bring. TOO LATE FOR THAT YOU FUCKING LOSERS.

[underpants]

5. But Trump said The light is starting to shine

or some BS like that.

[Iliyah]

3. Is the Federal . .

government helping them?

I hear many hospital staff, ie doctors, nurses et al are exhausted, and medical supplies are low.

Federal government sending "surge" secret police with millions in support, but where is the help for the people trying to save lives?

[underpants]

6. Air Force personnel to California. Navy sending medical staff to Texas.

[captain queeg]

4. Had to read it twice. I thought it was going to say he was warning cities to take

Aggressive stances against protestors.

[gab13by13]

7. Trump must have wished her well,

She is a Trumper.

Why no warnings to cities in Texas or Georgia, or South Carolina or Mississippi?

[OilemFirchen]

10. Because the mayors of all of these cities, with one exception (Miami)...

are Democrats (and one Independent).

What are the odds, huh?

[bucolic_frolic]

8. After doing nothing for six months, now they want to dictate aggressive action by others????????

Birx and Trump have ZERO credibility on this. ZERO.

[msongs]

9. time for another PR stunt with hospital ships nt

[McCamy Taylor]

11. Swing states have to behave.

Blue states can all go die as far as Trump is concerned.

[dhill926]

12. um...it started in the northeast right...

not a southern and western epidemic. The feds completely punted on this, making it WAY worse than they had to. FUCK THEM!

[progressive nobody]

13. I am in Washington county which is about closes to Pittsburgh and our numbers are spiking

I have been following the numbers. Pittsburgh news channel had a blurb that people charged with seeing if counties are following Gov Wolf's regulations indicated that Pittsburgh( Allegheny county) is not.

[ouija]

15. In the immortal words of Sparta

“Try.”

[Evolve Dammit]

14. I thought it was a Democratic hoax?? Going to magically go away?? What abysmal "leadership"

You can't fix stupid with dictatorial ambitions.... yet.

[keithbvadu2]

16. "AGGRESSIVE" ACTION after the Trump death count goes over 140,000.

"AGGRESSIVE" ACTION after the Trump death count goes over 140,000.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

17. Ohio has TWO of those cities.

[Sgent]

18. New Orleans isn't doing great

but the problem isn't New Orleans itself its the rest of LA and southern MS which are transferring their patients here since we have 3 academic hospitals / medical schools.

The positive rate is less than half that of the surrounding state -- which has few beds.

[DallasNE]

20. For 6 Months Trump Strongly Opposed Mitigation Efforts

And after that blew up in their faces they blame the local officials for the bungled effort at the national level. That is some chutzpah Dr. Brix. Where is the testing? Where is the PPE. Where is the CDC? Mitigation needed to be practiced starting in March, not the end of July. You don't get to ride in on a white horse now and pretend that you are the good guys and all of these other people are the screw-up's. Not now, not ever. With 145,000 dead you get no slack.

[Duppers]

31. +100

[sheshe2]

36. The PPE that is being sent is faulty!

Brendan Williams, president of the New Hampshire Health Care Association, wears an isolation gown with no sleeve openings for hands, which was received in a shipment from the federal government, outside Webster at Rye senior care center, July 1, 2020, in Rye, N. H. The problematic gowns, child-sized examination gloves and surgical masks with ear loops that break when stretched make up the bulk of the personal protective equipment recently sent by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to New Hampshire nursing homes, according to Williams.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213796941#post3

original link: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213796941#top

[BlueIdaho]

21. Or else what scarf girl?

Fuck Trump - Fuck Birx. The feds are doing shit to help so what exactly are you going to do? Whack somebody’s knuckles with a ruler?

[Buckeye_Democrat]

22. So... inject ourselves with Clorox then?

[Tech]

23. They steal supplies going to states and cities and call it "theirs"

They screw up the payments to keep small businesses going while lining the pockets of rich republicans.
They call it all a hoax.
They say not to worry about masks, it is a personal choice.
They spend more time protecting statues than people.
They push to re open way before wise.
They listen to actors more than scientists for advise.
They push drugs not based on effectiveness but on who will make money on them.
They do not push mail in voting in time do many are subjected to long lines and exposure while voting.
They ignore policies out in place by past administrations that were there in case there was a pandemic.
They take away funding from the cdc And decide they can handle the numbers better.

And now they tell the cities and the people to do something about it.

Angry does not describe what I am feeling right now.

[sharedvalues]

24. Deborah Birx is a rightwing Christian evangelical, who got her job via wingnut welfare

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/anti-gay-anti-choice-childrens-aids-fund-still-raking-taxpayer-money/

I recently learned that CAF’s sway over the US’s global AIDS response goes beyond program implementation. In April, Dr. Deborah Birx became the highest-ranking government official in charge of US efforts to combat global AIDS when she was appointed global AIDS coordinator, an ambassador position housed at the State Department. According to PEPFAR estimates, Birx is responsible for overseeing the distribution of approximately $6.5 billion in PEPFAR funds around the globe.

Just eight years ago, Birx was serving on CAF’s board of directors alongside the Smiths. According to the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, Ambassador Birx resigned from the board in “2005 or 2006” and the last time she attended a board meeting was 2003. But on CAF’s 2006 tax return, she was still listed as a board member. In 2012, Birx, then working with the Centers for Disease Control, and a number of other US government officials participated in a conference call with Ugandan LGBT activists, who reported—as they had previously—that organizations funded by PEPFAR to deliver HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention were drumming up support for the notorious anti-gay bill. One of the organizations the activists highlighted was CAF, which has close ties to an ex-gay ministry called He Intends Victory. Ex-gay pastor and He Intends Victory president Bruce Sonnenberg sits on CAF’s board of directors and has for nearly a decade—meaning he would have overlapped with Birx on the board.

Fauci has to pretend to respect Birx.

But Birx got her start in medicine because she was a Christian under Reagan who pushed abstinence for AIDS.


She's a fraud and a recipient of conservative affirmative action. A joke. A fake doctor who liberals pretend to respect.

[thenelm1]

25. So other than Miami & New Orleans (both with Dem Mayors I think - not sure of most of the others),

no other cities from Florida, Texas, Georgia or Arizona at all??? These four states are having some of the worst outbreaks of all - but of course those states and their idjit guvs are "friends of the president" and have been blocking almost all or any sensible mitigation efforts from mayors in their states. Oh yes, that's a sensible list. If ever there was any thought that Birx would act responsibly - think no more. She's been totally subsumed by the dark side.

Look out, the outlaw mystery "Feds" are headed to your cities soon. The coup is in process.

[BigmanPigman]

26. Miami's mayor is a registered GOP but the office is supposed to be

non-partisan. I had to Google it since I thought Nicole Wallace grilled him on her show the other day about his response. You should watch Nicole go after him!
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017594477

[obamanut2012]

33. Francis Suarez is a GOP and pretty miuch a wingnut

And, is a darling of the other wingnuts down there.

Miami-Dade is blue. Francis Suarez is definitely not.

[regnaD kciN]

27. They'll probably send Border Patrol thugs to each of these cities...

...to kidnap the virus and cart it away in unmarked vans.

[progressive nobody]

28. I live near Pittsburgh. I can't speak for other cities.

With the way the area is set up a lot of people work in Pittsburgh and commute from home usually in one of the surrounding counties. Some commute an hour a day. If the Gov heard this phone call as well he might shut down Allegheny county(Pittsburgh) and surrounding counties or at the very least roll back to yellow.

That is my positive thinking. My other side was thinking is this was a fancy call to say bend over grab your ankles and prepare.

[DeminPennswoods]

32. Cases in Pittsburgh/Allegheny Co spiked not too long after bars and restaurants

opened. Cases look to be on the decline though. There were 96 on Wed after a couple weeks in mid-to-high triple digits. Positivity rates have also declined to 6%.

Gov Wolf and DoH head Levine are closely monitoring things. There's actual contact tracing going on as well.

All residents and staff at nursing homes/assisted living facilities are now being tested. That's resulted in an increase in cases, too. In my county, the gigantic cracker plant Shell is building seems to be a mini-epicenter for new cases as they ramp up staffing to pre-pandemic levels.

[progressive nobody]

35. Washington county where I live is spiking too.

My friend who is in medical science--she's a freaking genius(makes me wonder why she's friends with a dummy like me )-- I forget her title but when people started eating out and offices started bring people back in she started to worry. She told the way this thing travels and everything office spaces and in door dining are the worse things we can engage in.

[DeminPennswoods]

37. At this point, I am really not sure if anything

else can be done. I think the virus is going to do what it's going to do regardless. IDK, maybe Sweden has the right approach...

[progressive nobody]

38. No herd immunity didn't work. Look at the countries that locked down completely...they have such

a better handle about 2 weeks ago I saw that the daily new case in Norway was 11 for the whole country.

[IronLionZion]

29. What kind of aggressive action?

Are they going to toss coronavirus into an unmarked van and send it away from everyone?
Fire tear gas and rubber bullets at COVID's mom?

[SergeStorms]

30. It's a little too late...

to close the barn doors now, Donnie. The horses got out in February.

[Bayard]

34. That's it,

Blame the states for your ineptitude, when you've done jack shit. Continue to ignore the science, and the real experts.

Instead of abducting citizens, Trump's Troops should be building temporary hospitals, and doing everything possible to make the situation better. Even though scrubbing floors is not as exciting as beating people with batons.