Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House’s COVID-19 task force, said on Thursday night that she and the White House are editing the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guide on reopening the economy after President Donald Trump’s administration nixed it the first time.
“We are in deep partnership with CDC, both for the White House guidelines that were put out on how to open up America again, but also the details behind the guidelines,” Birx told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper.
The doctor said those recommendations are “still being worked on.”
She claimed that “no one has stopped those guidelines,” though a task official confirmed as much earlier on Thursday when reports of the White House shelving the CDC’s guide emerged.
Birx also said that the edits are based on science, not politics.
“I like to believe that I’m a scientist, and I’ve been working with the CDC on the edits,” she told Cooper. “It was more about simplification to really make sure that both the American people as well as public health officials understand the guidelines, and then really working on a whole area on surveillance for asymptomatic individuals.”
Watch Birx below:
Dr. Birx: CDC guidelines on reopening country are "still being worked on." pic.twitter.com/k6bySl5Z3a
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) May 8, 2020
