Birx says COVID-19 death toll ‘could have been mitigated’

Former White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx says that hundreds of thousands of deaths “could have been mitigated” early on in the pandemic.

During a segment on a CNN documentary that will air Sunday night, Birx was asked how much of an impact early mitigation measures would have had on the country.

“Well, look at it this way. The first time, we have an excuse, there were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge,” Birx said. “All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.” 

Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator under former President Trump, said in a CNN documentary clip that she thinks the US could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives lost to Covid-19 following the pandemic’s first surge. https://t.co/cB08LLbIaw pic.twitter.com/cXqvnYWYa7

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) March 27, 2021

The comment comes as the U.S. awaits a return to normal life after one year of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

There have been 30.1 million cumulative coronavirus infections in the U.S. as of Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 548,000 Americans have died.

Meanwhile, more than 140 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered, and 15.1 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Birx, who was tasked with leading the nation’s coronavirus response under former President Trump, has been vocal about her time in the White House and her concerns as the nation gets through the coronavirus pandemic. She has since become a fellow at the George W. Bush Institute.

Birx told ABC News earlier this month that she still has concerns about asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 after “having lived through the June and July surge” of COVID-19.