Dr. Deborah Birx Meets With North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper

Dr. Deborah Birx, a notable member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, made a stop in North Carolina Wednesday to meet with Governor Roy Cooper and other state and health officials. Her visit comes one day after President Donald Trump held a large rally in Winston-Salem that appeared to contradict guidance measures issued by the White House.

The meeting was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh, ABC 11 reports, and will include a phone call with fellow Task Force member and Vice President Mike Pence.

The meeting is one of many across the country on Birx's tour to survey states' "responses to the pandemic and review their efforts in tandem with the federal government response," according to ABC 11. Dr. Birx, Gov. Cooper, and other state leaders will reportedly discuss the state's overall handling of the pandemic and address the potential increase in cases as schools and universities begin opening up.

The White House Coronavirus Task Force issued a report on September 6 to all 50 governors showing COVID-19 data and trends as well as offering recommendations. North Carolina was declared a "red zone" in cases, according to the report. Several cities, including Raleigh and Greensboro, are in the slightly better "yellow zone" for case count. The report also described North Carolina as a "yellow zone" for its positivity rate, meaning the number of positive cases to those tested are between 5-10%

Some of the recommendations in the report call for continued use of facial coverings as well as expanding testing and contact tracing efforts. The full 300-page report with data for each state can be found here.

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