Dr. Deborah Birx, a leading health expert and member of the coronavirus task force, is concerned the media is spending too much time on President Donald Trump’s recent controversial comments.
Trump has received a lot of criticism after suggesting light and disinfectant injections as possible treatments of the coronavirus, as IJR previously reported.
CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed Birx on the issue asking her if it bothered her she had to spend time discussing disinfectants.
She replied, “It bothers me that this is still in the news cycle.”
“I worry that we don’t get the information to the American people that they need when we continue to bring up something that was from Thursday night,” Birx added.
Watch her comments below:
“It bothers me that this is still in the news cycle,” Dr. Deborah Birx says about Pres. Trump’s disinfectant remarks. “I worry that we don’t get the information to the American people that they need when we continue to bring up something that was from Thursday night" #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/eu9n1jCVkO
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) April 26, 2020
Birx recently came out in defense of Trump’s comments, as IJR previously reported.
She claimed Trump tends to talk through new information he receives and he was still working through the information surrounding potential treatments of the coronavirus.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also issued a statement claiming the media distorted Trump’s comments.
“Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines,” the statement reads.
Trump also clarified the statements himself claiming he was asking a sarcastic question to reporters.
Birx reiterated she wants to move on from Trump’s comments to provide more information to Americans on how they can mitigate the effects of the coronavirus.
“I want us to move on to be able to get information to the American people that can help them protect each other and also help them understand how devastating this virus is to different age groups and different symptoms and different comorbidities,” Birx said.
As of Sunday afternoon, the United States has nearly 944,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 54,000 deaths, according to reports.