Birx says it’s ‘frustrating’ to hear public ‘parrot back’ false COVID-19 claims

Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House’s coronavirus task force, said Sunday that it’s “frustrating” to hear the public “parrot back” false claims about COVID-19, including that masks do not work. 

Birx told NBC News’s “Meet the Press” that when she travels to meet with state and local government officials, she also meets with community members who sometimes repeat “myths” about the pandemic. 

{mosads}“I hear community members parroting back those situations, parroting back that masks don’t work, parroting back that we should work towards herd immunity, parroting back that gatherings don’t result in super-spreading events,” she said. 

“And I think our job is to constantly say those are myths,” she added. “They are wrong, and you can see the evidence base.”

The coronavirus adviser also expressed irritation with governors and mayors in the Sun Belt where case numbers have reached their summertime levels, “yet aren’t putting in the same policies and mitigations that they put in the summer, that they know changed the course of this pandemic across the South.”

“It is frustrating because not only do we know what works, governors and mayors used those tools to stem the tide in the spring and the summer,” she added. 

NEW: Dr. Deborah Birx dispels misinformation around Covid risks, says “our job is to constantly say, ‘those are myths.’” #MTP

“It is frustrating because not only do we know what works, governors and mayors used those tools to stem the tide in the spring and the summer.” pic.twitter.com/38Dry1YFMg

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) December 6, 2020

Birx’s comments come as coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths are reaching new heights in the country. The U.S. documented 224,831 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the most it has in a single day, according to The COVID Tracking Project. 

Hospitalizations also surpassed 100,000 last week. There are now 101,190 people hospitalized across the country, including 19,950 in intensive care units and 7,005 on ventilators. COVID-19 fatalities have also reached more than 2,000 per day last week.

These increases come ahead of any likely effects Thanksgiving gatherings will have on the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths.