Dr. Deborah Birx, a leading member of the White House task force combating the coronavirus, and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reportedly clashed last week over the veracity of data the center collects regarding cases and deaths.
During what sources characterized as a “heated discussion,” according to to the Washington Post, Birx expressed frustration with Dr. Robert Redfield that the CDC was using an outdated system to track data that might be inflating figures, such as the mortality rate, by as much as 25%.
“There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust,” Birx reportedly said.
Two senior administration officials told the Washington Post that the exchange was not heated.
The CDC has reported more than 1.3 million cases of the virus and nearly 79,000 deaths as of Sunday. That included more than 1,700 new cases from the day before.
The Washington Post reported that Redfield agreed his agency was “in need of a digital upgrade.”
The alleged spat between two of the nation’s leading health officials comes as states continue to grapple with how to classify deaths amid the pandemic.
The federal guidance to hospitals specified: “COVID-19 should be reported on the death certificate for all decedents where the disease caused or is assumed to have caused or contributed to the death.”
President Trump has expressed skepticism regarding coronavirus numbers reported by states and the federal government.
