Birx shares frustration over people spreading 'myths' about coronavirus

Dr. Deborah Birx delivered a stark warning on Sunday, saying that some governors and local officials are actively ignoring coronavirus mitigation efforts that are proven to work, putting residents in danger.

"Right now, across the Sunbelt, we have governors and mayors who have cases equivalent to what they had in the summertime, yet aren't putting in the same policies and mitigations that they put in the summer that they know changed the course of this pandemic," Birx said on Meet the Press. "This is the worst event that this country will face not just from a public health side, yet we know what behaviors spread the virus and we know how to change those behaviors to stop spreading the virus."

Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said over this week, the U.S. will likely see the surge in cases intensify, thanks to people who traveled and gathered with friends and family outside of their households during Thanksgiving. "We cannot go into the holiday season — Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa — with the same kind of attitude, that 'those gatherings don't apply to me,'" she said. "They apply to everyone, if you don't want to lose your grandparents, your aunt."

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Since the beginning of the pandemic, Birx has been traveling across the country to talk with local health officials about ways to curb the coronavirus. While meeting with people, Birx said, she has heard community members share baseless claims about COVID-19, "parroting back that masks don't work, parroting back that we should work toward herd immunity, parroting back that gatherings don't result in super-spreader events. And I think our job is to constantly say those are myths, they are wrong, and you can see the evidence base."

The number of coronavirus cases being reported each day is skyrocketing, topping 200,000 cases in the last several days. The death toll crossed 282,000 over the weekend, with more than 2,200 new daily deaths being reported in the last few days, NBC News reports.