Deborah Birx: White House Covid official plans to retire amid backlash over Thanksgiving trip

Doctor acknowledges she travelled to Delaware property

Doctor Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, has announced that she plans to retire.

On Tuesday, the government adviser disclosed the decision in an interview with Newsy, but did not give a specific timetable on her plans.

The doctor stated that she will be willing to first help President-elect Joe Biden’s team with its coronavirus response as needed.

“I will be helpful in any role that people think I can be helpful in, and then I will retire,” Dr Birx told the news outlet.

Dr Birx and White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by the Associated Press.

Her notice came just days after AP reported that the doctor had travelled out of state for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend despite guidance from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warning Americans to stay home.

Dr Birx acknowledged in a statement on Sunday that she went to her Delaware property and was accompanied by family members. 

However, she insisted the purpose of the visit was not to celebrate with family but to prepare the property before a potential sale.

“I did not go to Delaware for the purpose of celebrating Thanksgiving,” Dr Birx said in her statement, adding that her family shared a meal together while in Delaware.

The doctor said that everyone on the 50-hour Delaware trip belongs to her “immediate household”, even as she acknowledged that the people who came live in two different homes.

The CDC 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," it says.

The trip quickly sparked backlash, with some saying that the doctor should be held to a higher standard due to her high-profile role within the government.

“To me, this disqualifies her from any future government health position,” said Dr Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security.

“It’s a terrible message for someone in public health to be sending to the American people.”

The doctor had expressed a desire to maintain a significant position on the White House coronavirus task force when Mr Biden is inaugurated next month, according to a person familiar with the Biden team’s personnel deliberations and a Trump administration coronavirus task force official. 

Neither was authorised to discuss internal deliberations publicly and both spoke on condition of anonymity.