Dr. Deborah Birx, a prominent member of the White House coronavirus task force under Trump, said in an interview published Friday that she “always” thought of quitting the group. “I mean, why would you want to put yourself through that every day?” she said. “I had to ask myself every morning: is there something that I think I can do that would be helpful in responding to this pandemic? And it’s something I asked myself every night.” Birx announced a month ago she would retire after the transition to the Biden administration. She came under fire in December for hosting multiple generations of her family at a vacation home over Thanksgiving. President Donald Trump often promoted ludicrous treatments for COVID-19 during press briefings. In one instance, he suggested injecting bleach and told Birx she should “look into it.” Though she appeared uncomfortable, she did not object. The day before Birx’s comments, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said in a White House press briefing, “One of the new things in this administration is if you don’t know the answer, don’t guess, just say you don’t know the answer.”
