NEWS

Deborah Birx in West Palm Beach warns of big summer COVID surge in Florida

Chris Persaud
Palm Beach Post
Former response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force Deborah Birx.

Note: This story has been updated to include Dr. Birx's comments about then-President Donald Trump's remarks about ultraviolet light and disinfectant curing COVID-19. 

WEST PALM BEACH — Florida should expect an "exponential" COVID surge this summer, former White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said Monday during a visit downtown.

Birx spoke to an audience of more than 200 people at the Kravis Center for a lunch hosted by Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, where she touted her recently released book, "Silent Invasion." Few attendees wore masks.

Birx warned of a summer swell of COVID infections and hospitalizations across Florida and the South. She also described some of what went on behind the scenes in the Trump administration as the coronavirus spread in 2020, which she details in her book.

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"We are heading into Memorial Day, when families like to get together," she said, urging attendees to order COVID tests now because "there will be a shortage." She recommended that people get tested before visiting grandparents and other elderly relatives for the holiday May 30.

At-home tests can be ordered online, some for free, from the federal government at covid.gov/tests.

Former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah Birx signs copies of her new book "Silent Invasion" at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach Monday.

As coronavirus omicron subvariants fuel the latest wave of infections, hospitalizations statewide are rising more slowly compared with December, when the main omicron variant engulfed Florida.

Medical experts have said they expect the current spate of infections to be milder than previous waves because most people are vaccinated, boosted or have previously been infected by the main omicron strain.

But, Birx warned: "It's early. Give it a few weeks. Hospitalizations grow linearly, then become exponential." She predicted the latest wave would fully take shape by the end of June.

Medical staff statewide tended to 1,384 COVID-positive patients, including 134 adults ages 18 or older in intensive-care units, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department reported Monday. That's lower than most days in December.

Deborah Birx: Hospitals should report more about COVID patients

Previous viral variants burned through the South during the past two summers, Birx noted. Florida experienced its biggest spike of fatalities from June through September last year as the delta mutation ripped through mostly unvaccinated residents.

Omicron and its subvariants have proved more formidable against vaccines than previous versions of the pathogen. To better track vaccine effectiveness and see who is most vulnerable, Birx said governments should report more information about COVID-positive hospital patients, such as their vaccination status or underlying health conditions.

Palm Beach County commissioners in October stopped requiring that local hospitals report detailed information on their COVID patients. As omicron exploded over the winter, county officials said they would not bring back those daily public reports because they burdened hospitals but also admitted that no medical facility complained about having to send data.

"It's really not that hard," Birx said. "People always say to me, 'I don't think the hospitals would talk.' They would. They want the community to thrive."

The state Agency for Health Care Administration collects data from hospitals about their COVID-positive patients but chooses not to publish it. HHS also collects patient information from medical facilities, but not details such as patients' vaccination status.

Birx, who has worked in the federal government since Ronald Reagan was president, told the Kravis crowd about dealing with former President Donald Trump contradicting scientific expertise in public.

"By doing all of this testing, we make ourselves look bad," Trump said May 6, 2020, during an Oval Office meeting with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

During a CNN interview the next day, Birx did not comment on Trump's remark, but said, “I’ve been very encouraged about two parts of the testing. One, the dramatic increase in the number of tests we’re doing per week. We hope this week to get close or over 8 million; we’re going up."

Birx also spoke Monday about her reaction to Trump during a news briefing April 23, 2020, when he speculated that "ultraviolet or just very powerful light" could be shone into the body to cure a coronavirus infection.

Trump was referencing a study conducted at Birx's request to show the effectiveness of sunlight as a disinfectant.

"I thought if moms and mayors knew sunlight worked as well as Lysol, they would let the kids out," Birx said.

Trump also said that "disinfectant" could "knock it out in one minute," especially if injected. "Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't work," he said, as Birx sat nearby. "I didn't know what to do," Birx said. "That was the worst."

“I looked down at my feet and wished for two things: something to kick and for the floor to open up and swallow me whole," she wrote in her book. Trump's critics, including President Joe Biden – at the time a candidate – mocked him for suggesting people "drink bleach" to cure COVID.

While Birx contradicted Trump, Pence said, 'You do what you need to do'

As she and other federal officials touted testing in news interviews while Trump downplayed it, Birx told the Kravis crowd, she complained to Vice President Mike Pence that, " 'I'm saying the exact opposite of what the president is saying.' … And he said, 'You do what you need to do.' "

Other details in her book include the revelation that she and other federal health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, had a resignation pact. If one of them was removed, the rest would quit.

Dozens of copies of Birx's book, which she signed after the lunch, are being donated to the Palm Beach County School District to be placed in school libraries.

Birx served on the White House coronavirus task force until Jan. 20, 2021, when Biden took office. She said the month before that she would resign. The announcement came after news broke that she hosted three generations of her family during Thanksgiving that year, against federal health recommendations.

Birx served as U.S. global AIDS coordinator starting in 2014. Her public health career goes back to the 1980s, including her work or service in the Army as an active duty reserve officer and as director of HIV research at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

Chris Persaud is The Palm Beach Post's data reporter. Email him at cpersaud@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.