China's delays in reporting human-to-human transmission of a novel coronavirus it was experiencing delayed the World Health Organization's ability to declare the quickly spreading illness as a pandemic, as it can "only react to the data it's given," Dr. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator on the White House coronavirus task force, said Wednesday.
"When you go back and look at the timeline, it wasn't until I think almost the middle of January that China reported that there was human-to-human transmission," Birx said on "CBS This Morning," commenting a day after President Donald Trump threatened to pull WHO funding and accused it of being too China-friendly. "We have to really investigate reporting and how the reports were received there."
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Fox News "America's Newsroom" that he couldn't get involved "in that kind of discussion."
"I just need to focus on what my job is, to see what we can do in this country and globally to put an end to this," said Fauci. "The interaction between the WHO (and Trump) Is something that I really prefer not to get involved with."
Meanwhile, Birx called the Centers for Disease Control's possible plans to change guidelines on self-isolation "very important.
"It looks at the degree of exposure and really making it clear that exposure occurs within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes, so (it's) really understanding where you shouldn’t be within 6 feet of people right now,” Birx said.
According to Vice President Mike Pence, the CDC, in conjunction with the coronavirus task force, is considering an announcement that would change its guidelines on how people should be allowed to work if they've been exposed to someone with the disease.
The proposal would allow exposed people to return to work as long as they remain asymptomatic, test their temperature twice daily, and wear a face mask, a person familiar with the proposal said, speaking anonymously because the plans hadn't yet been finalized.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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