Birx touts coronavirus data showing decline in cases, hospitalizations

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Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House's coronavirus task force, is encouraged by the latest statistics of new coronavirus cases -- which she said shows sharp declines in both deaths and hospitalizations in recent weeks.

Birx said that while certain areas remain at a consistent level, much of the country is seeing significant drops.

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“We are encouraged in reviewing and triangulating clinical data, laboratory data and surveillance data from around the country. It shows that new hospitalizations have dropped by 50 percent in the last 30 days," Birx said Tuesday. "All hospitalizations and ICU hospitalizations are both dropping. Fatalities continue to decrease week over week."

Birx also pointed to how numbers of cases are going down even as testing is increasing. She said that all states are now seeing less than 20 percent test positive. In New York, which has been hit harder than any other state, less than 10 percent test positive, down from more than 45 percent a month ago.

“Week over week new cases continue to decline – despite significant increases in testing and more testing focused on contact tracing and proactively searching for asymptomatic cases," Birx said.

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Birx said she drew three takeaways from the latest data. First off, she said that major metropolitan areas "are starting to improve significantly," noting that as cities reopen they are expanding testing among vulnerable populations and increasing contact tracing.

Second, Birx said it is "very reassuring" to see states following her task force's recommendations by finding cases, testing people, and contact tracing so that they can test additional people who may be asymptomatic, thus helping prevent the further spreading of COVID-19.

The third takeaway Birx had was that "testing has been expanding at a rate that in several places the governors are saying they need more people to test." She said the Trump administration is helping governors provide testing in key populations such as nursing homes, prisons, group housing, and "in the most vulnerable and disadvantaged areas of the cities."

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Birx identified the metropolitan areas of Washington, Chicago, and Los Angeles as locations where the number of new cases have plateaued, and said the task force will be studying them to see which cases are part of community spread and which are from new outbreaks.

"We study these three metros that are closed and have been closed to understand where precisely the new cases are coming from and how to prevent new infections," she said.