it is closer up
https://www.miamiherald.com/article247989330.htmlBirx travels, family visits highlight pandemic safety perils
BY AAMER MADHANI AND BRIAN SLODYSKO ASSOCIATED PRESS
DECEMBER 20, 2020 01:57 PM
FILE - In this March 3, 2020, file photo, White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, with, from left, Vice President Mike Pence, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Seema Verma, and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, speaks to reporters during a briefing on coronavirus in the Brady press briefing room of the White House in Washington. Birx was brought into President Donald Trump’s orbit to help fight the coronavirus, she had a sterling reputation as a globally recognized AIDS researcher and a rare Obama administration holdover. Less than 10 months later, her reputation is frayed and her future in President-elect Joe Biden's administration uncertain. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
FILE - In this March 3, 2020, file photo, White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, with, from left, Vice President Mike Pence, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Seema Verma, and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, speaks to reporters during a briefing on coronavirus in the Brady press briefing room of the White House in Washington. Birx was brought into President Donald Trump’s orbit to help fight the coronavirus, she had a sterling reputation as a globally recognized AIDS researcher and a rare Obama administration holdover. Less than 10 months later, her reputation is frayed and her future in President-elect Joe Biden's administration uncertain. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) MANUEL BALCE CENETA AP
WASHINGTON
As COVID-19 cases skyrocketed before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, warned Americans to “be vigilant” and limit celebrations to “your immediate household.”
For many Americans that guidance has been difficult to abide, including for Birx herself.
The day after Thanksgiving, she traveled to one of her vacation properties on Fenwick Island in Delaware. She was accompanied by three generations of her family from two households. Birx, her husband Paige Reffe, a daughter, son-in-law and two young grandchildren were present.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked Americans not to travel over the holidays and discourages indoor activity involving members of different households. “People who do not currently live in your housing unit, such as college students who are returning home from school for the holidays, should be considered part of different households.”
Even in Birx's everyday life, there are challenges meeting that standard. She and her husband have a home in Washington. She also owns a home in nearby Potomac, Maryland, where her elderly parents, and her daughter and family live, and where Birx visits intermittently. In addition, the children's other grandmother, who is 77, also regularly travels to the Potomac house and returns to her 92-
Birx said that everyone on her Delaware trip belongs to her “immediate household," even as she acknowledged they live in two different homes. She initially called the Potomac home a “3 generation household (formerly 4 generations).” White House officials later said it continues to be a four-generation household, a
Richard Flynn, her father, confirmed details of Birx's Thanksgiving holiday gathering and visits to the Potomac house, but said he trusted the doctor and believes she’s doing what’s right. He said Birx's visits to the house
“It’s extraordinarily important for the leaders of the coronavirus response to model the behavior that they recommend to the public,” Gostin said. “We lose faith in our public health officials if they are saying these are the rules but they don’t apply to me.”