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

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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 has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.