White House coronavirus response Dr. Deborah Birx to brief President-elect Joe Biden's team on Covid-19 pandemic response on Monday.
“I think the one thing that we will be able to bring to the Biden administration in that discussion is to understand how they want to see the data,” Birx said during a Sunday interview on CBS “Face the Nation.”
According to Birx, the federal government has compiled data used to monitor the virus in the past nine months. Birx was concerned about the increase in Covid-19 infections due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
“Going into the Memorial Day weekend we had less than 25,000 a day, we had only 30,000 inpatients in the hospital and we had way less mortality, way under a thousand,” Birx said.
“We’re entering this post-Thanksgiving surge with three, four, and 10 times as much disease across the country so that’s what worries us the most,” Birx said, referencing her colleague White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“We know people may have made mistakes over the Thanksgiving time period,” Birx said, adding that “if you’re young and you gathered, you need to be tested about five to 10 days later.”
“And if you’re over 65 or you have comorbidities and you gathered at Thanksgiving, if you develop any symptoms, you need to be tested immediately,” Birx said.
“We are immediately getting them all of the pre-prepared transition briefing materials,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on Tuesday.
“We will ensure coordinated briefings with them to ensure they’re getting whatever information that they feel they need,” Azar said, noting that the “transition planning and execution will be professional, cooperative and collaborative.”
Last week, the Biden transition team has been briefed on Operation Warp Speed, according to Azar.
He said that Rear Adm. Erica Schwartz, the official in charge of the transition planning effort, discussed the Operation Warp Speed with the Biden transition team on Monday evening. The goal of Operation Warp speed is to distribute a coronavirus vaccine to the public in record time.
Azar’s update came after the General Services Administration (GSA) officially acknowledged President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
However, President Donald Trump has still refused to concede the elections to Biden, who is predicted to win 306 Electoral College votes to Trump’s 232.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, previously said that the Trump administration must work with the Biden transition team on coronavirus response.
“It’s almost like passing a baton in a race,” Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during an interview on “State of the Union.” “You don’t want to stop, and then give it to somebody, you want to just essentially keep going.”
Dr. Fauci said that the transition period is important. He believes that the process would be smoother if Donald Trump’s administration will work with the Biden transition team.
When asked if health authorities would benefit from cooperating with the Biden transition team, Dr. Fauci said, “Of course it would be better if we can start working with them.”
