Dr. Deborah Birx was a central figure in then President Donald Trump administration’s fight against COVID-19.
The head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Birx was the White House’s face of the government’s pandemic response. Having an inside seat with Trump and the administration, Birx is releasing a book detailing what it was like in the White House during the early days of the pandemic.
The book, titled “Silent Invasion: The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, COVID-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It's Too Late,” comes out Tuesday.
On Monday, Birx went on Good Morning America to preview the book.
She said that she had a pact with three other doctors on the task force — Drs. Anthony Fauci, Robert Redfield and Stephen Hahn — that if one of them was fired, they would all step down. She said the doctors on the task force were under “enormous pressure.”
Birx discussed the infamous instance when President Donald Trump openly discussed using disinfectants to treat COVID-19. Birx said the Task Force’s intention was to see if sunlight could be used as a disinfectant for playground equipment.
“This was a tragedy on many levels,” Birx said on Monday on Good Morning America. “We wanted parents, springtime was coming, we want them — the New York playgrounds had been closed — we thought if we took the data, they would go outside.”