But at least two of the cities he mentioned as an area of concern, Baltimore and New Orleans, were not invited to the call and did not know what was happening, two sources familiar with the call tell CNN. Earlier Wednesday, Baltimore city officials announced a decision to require the mandatory use of masks and to restrict indoor food, a decision based on their own independent data. However, the health department has not seen or heard of any reports or lists that classify Baltimore as one of these cities of interest until the media reported after the call, a source said.
“The administration makes frequent calls with local, state and tribal leaders. There have been more than 320 of these calls with more than 150,000 participants,” said working group spokesman Devin O’Malley.
On the call, Birx continued, “I know it may seem small, and you can tell that it only went from five to five and a half, and let’s wait and see what happens. If you wait another three or four, even five days, you will start to see a dramatic increase in cases. So finding and locating such early people is really critical. “
Birx told officials in places that they experience increased test positivity to “(make) sure they are aggressive with mitigation efforts,” noting that the administration provides governors with a weekly report with clear recommendations for mitigation.
Birx told officials Wednesday that there are “small flashes of decreased test positivity on many of our meters in Texas and, of course, Phoenix,” but the task force has “deep concerns about specific meters, by course in Florida, and the spread of epidemics in California in the Central Valley. “
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert and another member of the White House coronavirus special force, warned Wednesday that the United States “is certainly not at the end of the game,” with a series of metaphors. of baseball.
“I’m not even sure we’re halfway there. I mean, obviously, if you want to score, I don’t want to be too sweet about it, but we’re certainly not winning the game right now, we’re not leading it,” Fauci said. during a live question and answer session with TB Alliance, a non-profit organization.
A White House spokesman said Birx’s comments were in line with Trump’s informative comments on Wednesday.
“This does not deviate from what the president said yesterday. The virus is still with us, we have some states and metropolitan areas with major outbreaks, and we must take this incredibly seriously,” Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere told CNN.
Trump said Tuesday that the pandemic “will unfortunately likely get worse before it gets better.”
But he chose some of the more hopeful aspects of the pandemic at his briefings and refused to appear alongside his top public health officials, and told reporters that appearing on the podium alone was “a very concise way to do it.”
CNN’s Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.
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