White House Coronavirus Task Force Head Visits NJ, Urges Caution

GLASSBORO, NJ — The head of the White House’s coronavirus task force urged New Jersey residents to be cautious this fall to continue stemming the spread of the coronavirus one day after President Donald Trump told Americans to not be afraid of the virus.

Dr. Deborah Birx visited Rowan University in Glassboro on Tuesday to observe how the university is handling the pandemic. The university saw a spike in early September, but the number of new cases dropped again toward the end of the month.

At Rowan, the number of new cases hit 227 the week of Sept. 6-12. Over the last week, there have been only 19 new cases identified, and there are 494 total cases identified among Rowan students and staff.

New Jersey Coronavirus Updates: Don't miss local and statewide announcements about novel coronavirus precautions. Sign up for Patch alerts and daily newsletters.

Birx, who has worked alongside Dr. Anthony Fauci for about 40 years, attributed the decrease in cases to signage on campus, as well as the students wearing face coverings and adhering to social distancing guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Birx visited with students and health providers on campus before holding a news conference on campus.

“I think we’ve been very clear in our public health messaging that the reason they’ve brought down the number of cases on campuses is because the students changed their behavior, and the university supported that behavior change by providing isolation and quarantining,” Birx said when asked about Trump’s comments on the virus.

After spending three days at the Walter Reed Medical Center being treated for the coronavirus, Trump made a public return to the White House on Monday. On Saturday, he had sent out a tweet that read, in part, “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.”

In another tweet, he appears in a video without a mask on saying he feels, "better than he has in 20 years." Trump announced late last week that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. Read more here: President Trump Went To NJ Event After COVID-19 Exposure

Birx didn’t directly respond to a question about the president’s comments on Tuesday, but she said, “Can we empower the community, is there a message of how we get through this in a positive way? Absolutely, but we have to work together on communication and transparency and using data to understand where the virus is, where it’s increasing and what our response needs to be.

“I’m inspired at times by what students have done. We’ve asked them to change and alter completely their college experience. So as Americans, we should be able to alter our social experiences through the fall to protect one another.”

This includes having family members over for the holidays, she said. In the beginning, the virus was primarily spread in the workplace, Birx said. Over the summer, it was a “combination of human behavior and the ability to be outdoors” that contributed to the spread.

Many spikes have occurred after holidays, and there have been questions on how to handle Thanksgiving and Christmas and the possibility of family-based spreading events.

She advised residents to wear masks inside, and keep people who are more vulnerable in separate rooms than people who may have been doing things that are “less than perfect.”

“Together, we have to change behaviors in the fall, particularly in the northeast and upper northwest, so we don’t create those family-based spreading events,” Birx said. “We can have a fall with less transmission if we work together. If you bring people into your house and take your mask off, you’ve created a spreading event.”

Birx applauded Rowan for its on-campus signage that helps the students maintain their distance. She did call for the university to conduct more surveillance of asymptomatic cases.

She also called on the university to help create additional messages to the public, both nationally and in New Jersey about possible community spread; bring in engineers to help the public understand about ventilation and social distancing; and communicate the need of the students to continue protecting each other.

“We have to hang on through October, November,” Birx said. “Hopefully we’ll have a vaccine that can really help. We’re going to be working on this together for several months."

The number of coronavirus cases in New Jersey rose to 209,342 on Tuesday, and 14,360 confirmed deaths have been reported. Gov. Phil Murphy announced 651 new coronavirus cases and nine more deaths. Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

Murphy also signed eight bills into law, creating a big testing expansion for New Jersey now that cases have been on the rise. Read more here: Gov. Murphy Signs 8 NJ Bills Into Law, Big COVID-19 Testing Step