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Deborah Birx, the physician overseeing the White House coronavirus response, warned Sunday that the United States had entered a “new phase” of the pandemic and urged people to take extreme health precautions as infections and deaths rise sharply nationwide.
“I want to be very clear: What we’re seeing today is different from March and April,” Birx told CNN’s “State of the Union,” noting that cases are increasing in rural and urban areas. “It is extraordinarily widespread.”
Birx did not rule out an estimate from former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb that virus deaths could top 300,000 by the end of the year, saying “anything is possible.” Such an outcome would be far less likely, Birx said, if people practiced social distancing and avoided large gatherings. Continue reading.