Tony's Diary Package — page 284

Dhruv asa s belief ers [0g Trump, meanwhile, has continued with his dangerous musings on the virus. As physician Dhruv Khullar observed in the New Yorker, "The work of saving lives has been complicated by misinformation, rhetoric, and political calculation." Apart from hismuddled messaging on masks, Trump has said COVID-19 would just "disappear," promoted hydroxychloroquine as a safe and effective treatment, ascribed increased cases merely to testing and pronounced 99 percent of coronavirus cases to be "totally harmless." He has also continued to peddle his belief that kids are "virtually immune" from the virus "and we have to open our schools." Doctors like Fauci and Birx find themselves in an unenviable position, as do so many employed by the Trump administration. They have been tasked with speaking uncomfortable and inconvenient truths to those in power. But given the current asphyxiation of scientific and public health expertise in Washington, there is little room for excuses. Birx established her profile as a physician-scientist of great repute through work on HIV and AIDS since the 1980s. Nowadays, Birx works closely with Vice President Mike Pence, who refers to her as his "right arm." With an office located near the Situation Room, she has become a cog in the president's team. Unfortunately, instead of serving as a firewall in the West Wing against Trump's medical disinformation, Birx has too often been obsequious. In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network in March, she praised Trump's ability to assimilate data and science: "He's been so attentive to the scientific literature and the details and the data," she said, Vox reported. "I think his ability to analyze and integrate data that comes out of his long history in business has really been a real benefit during these discussions about medical issues." In April, she remained mum and unmoved when the president turned to her and hypothesized aloud about using disinfectant as a coronavirus treatment. That same month, her rosy outlook on the country's outbreak provided Trump the scientific data he needed to push forward with his plans to reopen the country economically after an extensive lockdown. As the New York Times reported in July, "Dr. Birx was the chief evangelist for the idea that the threat from the virus was fading." Her fervor was based on her erroneous assumption that America's trajectory would resemble Italy's and that infections and deaths would crater after reaching a peak in mid-April. Given the president's stance on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and school reopenings, it is unnerving that Birx has worked to strip the organization of potentially vital coronavirus patient data. She has also worked to create more pliable guidelines for schools, despite the concerns of many medial professionals.