Birx calls Michigan protests 'devastatingly worrisome,' says demonstrators will feel 'guilty' if they infect relatives

Dr. Deborah Birx.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, said on Fox News Sunday she is concerned that people who attended protests at Michigan's statehouse last week could have picked up the coronavirus and brought it back to their families.

The participants were protesting a stay-at-home order by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), and many were not wearing masks. Birx said that was "devastatingly worrisome to me personally because if they go home and infect their grandmother or their grandfather who has a co-morbid condition and they have a serious or unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of our lives. So we need to protect each other at the same time we're voicing our discontent."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.