Ex-Trump Adviser Birx Says COVID-19 ‘Came Out of the Box Ready to Infect’

Dr. Deborah Birx (R) speaks alongside former President Donald Trump and NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci during a briefing at the White House in Washington, on March 29, 2020. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Former top White House COVID-19 adviser Deborah Birx said Sunday that COVID-19 “came out of the box ready to infect” when it was first detected in Wuhan, China, in 2019.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Birx said that COVID-19 “was already more infectious than flu when it first arrived,” saying that most viruses take months or years to become highly transmissible among humans.