Former White House Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx recently said that 40 percent of the COVID-19-related deaths in the United States could've been prevented.
Birx spoke to investigators with the House Select Subcommittee on the COVID-19 crisis this month, and parts of her comments were released this week.
The former White House response coordinator also blamed Donald Trump for not doing as much as possible to prevent the 400,000 deaths reported before his presidency ended.
Brix is convinced that Trump's focus was not entirely on the deadly virus because he was also up for re-election when the pandemic started last year.
"I believe if we had fully implemented the mask mandates, the reduction in indoor dining, then getting friends and family to understand the risk of gathering in private homes, and we had increased testing, we probably could have decreased fatalities into the 30 percent less to 40 percent less range," Birx said via the Huffington Post.
Liz Harrington responds to Deborah Birx's claims
Trump's spokesperson, Liz Harrington, responded to Birx by passing the blame to Joe Biden and the news media.
She said that Trump did everything that he could to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. But it was Biden that did not take up the ex-POTUS's approach.
Harrington added that more people died from COVID-19 after Biden became president compared to when Trump was the head of state.
Donald Trump chose Scott Atlas as his coronavirus adviser
According to Politico, Birx and other doctors urged Trump and his administration to intensify their efforts to control the virus. But instead of relying on Birx, the former president tapped Scott Atlas as his coronavirus adviser.
Trump also squeezed out other top government health officials that encouraged him to take COVID-19 seriously, and he also downplayed the seriousness of the deadly virus.
During her meeting with congressional investigators, Birx said that he told Trump that she wouldn't attend meetings where he would create a line in the sand. The former White House response coordinator added that she didn't want the staff at the Oval Office to compare her with Atlas.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, who chairs the select panel, said that Birx's accounts showed how Trump undermined the COVID-19 response because he prioritized his re-election and refused to follow the advice of public health experts.
Clyburn acknowledged Birx's statement that 130,000 Americans could still be alive today if Trump's response to COVID-19 were different and if only he listened to experts.
Donald Trump told lies about COVID-19
Before Biden was elected as president, Trump refused to take COVID-19 seriously. He was also accused of spreading incorrect information about the deadly virus.
For instance, Melania Trump's husband previously said that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are harmless.
But WHO said that approximately 15 percent of COVID-19 cases could be severe and about 5 percent can be critical, according to The Atlantic.
The ex-POTUS also claimed that children are immune to the virus. However, kids were only less likely to get the virus compared to adults a year ago. But with the new Delta variant this year, kids also became more susceptible to the virus.
