The White House is preparing to wind down its coronavirus task force within weeks, according to Vice President Mike Pence, who said discussions had begun on how to ensure that federal agencies could take over its work protecting the public.
“The work goes on,” he said.
Pence, who spoke to reporters off-camera at the White House, said the United States would be in a “very different place” by late May and that officials were looking at a window around Memorial Day for responsibilities to be transferred.
“We are already talking about a transition plan with FEMA,” he said.
The coronavirus task force has been the focal point for national efforts to tackle a pandemic that has claimed more than 70,000 lives in the U.S., according to a tally maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
It was formed in March, making media stars of two of its leading scientists: Anthony Fauci, an infectious diseases specialist, and Deborah Birx, who coordinated the White House response. With President Trump’s meandering performances during daily briefings infuriating some viewers, Birx and Fauci provided cool scientific analysis of the unfolding pandemic.
Its members gathered on Tuesday but did not meet on Monday or Saturday, as White House messaging turned toward the economy.
Birx, who joined Pence in the vice president’s ceremonial office on Tuesday for an update on their work, said she would remain involved.
“We’ll still keep a close eye on the data because we have very good data now. It took us a while to build that capacity, and we’ll make sure we are watching that at a federal level.”
Pence added, “We’re going to keep Dr. Deborah Birx around every bit as long as we need to.”
Although the rate of infections and deaths has declined in New York, the numbers are rising in other parts of the country even as states begin relaxing restrictions. Any sign that the White House is moving on may cause anxiety among a public that is largely wary of venturing back to normal life.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine on Monday released a new projection suggesting the total number of deaths could range from 95,000 to 243,000, a huge increase on its previous forecast of 72,000.
Birx said the numbers should be treated with caution as the model was very sensitive to changes in current death tolls, and she said it would probably be tweaked downward in the coming days.
“I’m not sure all the mitigation parameters were taken into account,” she said, describing how White House guidelines for reopening America required that elderly and vulnerable people continue to shelter in place.
Birx and Pence also emphasized that local leaders were working with federal authorities to increase testing and contain outbreaks, so that any increase in case numbers did not mean a step backward.
“You have to know that you can contain these outbreaks, you have to know that you can do asymptomatic monitoring, and we are seeing that happen, and it’s very encouraging to us,” said Birx.
Pence added that the winding down of the task force would be based on data.
“I truly believe, and the trend lines support it, that we could be in a very different place by late May or early June,” he said, allowing a “transition back to having our agencies begin to manage our national response in a more traditional manner.”
