White House official Birx praises Pa. for handling of COVID-19 pandemic, report says

Dr. Deborah Birx, a central Pennsylvania native who serves as the White House coronavirus response coordinator, had nothing but praise Thursday for her home state’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, PennLive.com reported.

“I never give anyone an A, but I think they’re close to a B-plus, A-minus range, a really terrific job,” she said.

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Birx met with Gov. Tom Wolf and health officials at the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency headquarters near Harrisburg.

She said Pennsylvania ranked among the top five states in controlling the spread of COVID-19, and she credited social distancing and mask-wearing for that.

Birx also expressed her approval for the statewide restrictions placed on restaurants and bars by Wolf as cases were surging, and remain in place.

But she did issue a warning for people to be on guard during the Labor Day holiday weekend.

"Most of our cases now are coming from community events where people in their neighborhood or in their homes are having a backyard barbecue, a wedding or another birthday party and that you can't tell who's positive because there's so much asymptomatic,” Birx said.

To read the PennLive.com story, click here.