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Dr. Deborah Birx, leader of the working group on the coronavirus of the White House, warned of the state and local leaders in a private phone call Wednesday that 11 major cities find increases in the percentage of tests that come back to Cvid- 19 And should take "aggressive" steps to mitigate their epidemics.

This article onCoronavirus aggressive actionHas originally been published by the Public Integrity Center, a non-profit newsroom based in Washington, D.C.

The cities she identified were Baltimore, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

The call was yet another private warning on the severity of coronavirus epidemics given to local officials but not the general public. He has come less than a week after the public integrity center revealed that the White House has compiled adetailed reportShowing 18 states included in the "red zone" for coronavirus cases but did not publish it publicly.

"You start seeing dramatic increases"

Increased test positivity - An indicator that a community does not have any outbreak under control - should be expected in areas that have reopened and have grown more relaxed on social distancing measures, "said epidemiologist. HarvardBill Hanage. He said that the warnings and data of the White House should be made public.

"It's a pandemic. You can not hide it under the carpet," he said. "The best way to deal with a crisis or a natural disaster is to be directly with people, to gain their confidence and give the information they need to make decisions for themselves and their communities."

In relation:Dr. Fauci says that here's how you will never catch Covid-19.

Birx told hundreds of emergency managers and other state leaders and premises they should act quickly to end epidemics. Among its recommendations, the contacts of patients tested positive for COVID-19 remained in areas where the positivity of the tests increases.

"When you first see this increase in the positivity of the tests, that is to say, to start mitigation efforts," she stated in a registration obtained by public integrity. "I know it may seem small and that you could say," It only spent 5 to 5 to 5 and a half [percent], and we will wait and see what's going on. "If you wait three or four or even five days, you will start to see a dramatic increase in cases."

The epidemic moves north

Birx said the federal government noted to encourage the decline in the positivity of tests in places such as Phoenix and San Antonio, but warned that the Sunbelt epidemic was moving north.

"What has started a lot like a southern and western epidemic begins to climb the east coast in Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, through Colorado, and we are obviously talking about many increases in Baltimore," A-T- She stated. "So it's really essential that everyone follows this and make sure they are aggressive attenuation efforts."

It is not clear that heard the warnings and was invited to the appeal, which was hosted by the Office of the White House of Intergovernmental Affairs and closed to the press. Baltimore and Cleveland were two of the cities of the Birx Warnding sea faced the positivity of the rise of tests, but a spokesman for Cleveland Mayor, Nancy Kelsey-Carroll, said they did not participate in the call. And the leaders of Baltimore Health Health did not know about it, the spokesman for Adam Abadir said in an email. This city today announced a mask mandate and new restrictions on the indoor dining room.

Test positivity rates may not have been a new one to some elected officials. For example, Pennsylvania already has public reports publiclythose databy county.

The political struggle continues

Birx's warning has arrived one day after President Donald Trump resumed his television coronavirus briefings. The President has offered arosierFrom the pandemic that Birx, focusing on examples of improvements in the fight against the virus, such as the best treatment with the drug codesivir.

His appeal also came the same day as the Chief of the Minority of the Senate Senate Sen. Chuck SchumernotedIn the Sun Senate, this one and the majority of the Chamber Nancy Pelosi had insisted on a greater transparency of the data at a meeting with the head of the White House House, Mark Meadows. Schumer said they would bring to the legislation on "Make sure the COVID-19 data are totally transparent and accessible without any interference from the administration".

And on Tuesday, the former director of the CDC Tom Frieden and his colleagues have published a list of data points that they would like states publish in real time, normalized, to give officials and residents better information.

"They are not only people who hold functions that need to make decisions," saidCaitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist from Johns Hopkins University, on a call with journalists. "The more we can provide information to people to keep themselves and protect their families, better we will be."

The White House has not immediately responded to a request for comments on Birx's warnings and did not respond to repeated questions over several days of public integrity on why it did not make the report "Red Zone". Birx said on the call that the weekly report had been sent to the governors for four weeks. A member of a governor's staff stated that his boss had only received the section of the report on his state, not the whole report.

How to avoid Covid-19 where you are

To stay healthy no matter where you live, wear your face mask, let yourself test if you think you have COVID-19, avoid crowds (and bars, the holidays of the house), practice social distancing , only manage essential races, wash your hands regularly, disinfect frequently affected areas and cross this pandemic at your healthiest, do not miss these37 places you are most likely to catch coronavirus.