Birx travels, family visits highlight pandemic safety perils

Numerous elected officials, including prominent Democrats, have been forced to acknowledge that they have not heeded their own stern warnings to the public about the dangers of spreading the virus.

But Birx occupies a position of far greater authority when it comes to the pandemic. Many Americans rely on the advice that she and the government's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, have given.

Kathleen Flynn, whose brother is married to Birx's daughter who lives in the Potomac house, said she brought forward information about Birx's situation out of concern for her own parents, and acknowledged family friction over the matter.

"She cavalierly violated her own guidance," Flynn said of Birx.

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 have occurred only every few weeks of late.

"Dr. Birx is very conscientious and a very good doctor and scientist from everything I can see," Richard Flynn said during a recent interview.

Medical experts say public health officials such as Birx need to lead by example, including personal conduct that's beyond reproach.

"We need leadership to be setting an example, especially in terms of things they are asking average Americans to do who are far less privileged than they are," said Dr. Abraar Karan, a global health specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, about the high-profile lapses in judgment.

Birx came to the White House coronavirus task force with a sterling reputation. A public servant since the Reagan administration, Birx has served as a U.S. Army physician and as a globally recognized AIDS researcher. She was pulled away from her ambassadorial post as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator to assist the task force in late February.

Birx, however, has faced criticism from public health experts and Democratic lawmakers for not speaking out forcefully against Trump when he contradicted advice from medical advisers and scientists about how to fight the virus.

Kathleen Flynn said she urged her brother and sister-in-law not to allow her mother to babysit, arguing it put her mother at risk by spending so much time in a household other than her own, while also posing a danger to Birx's elderly parents. Flynn, who said she has long had a strained relationship with her brother, is currently not on speaking terms with him and has never met Birx.

Flynn said her mother waited about a week after Birx's Thanksgiving trip before returning to the Potomac home to provide child care help.

Lawrence Gostin, a public health expert at Georgetown University's law school who has known Birx professionally for years, said that he's confident that Birx took all necessary precautions to minimize risks in her Thanksgiving travel. Still, he said it undercuts her larger goal to get Americans to cooperate with government officials' efforts to minimize the death and suffering caused by the virus.

"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." Madhani reported from Wilmington, Delaware.

AP