LITTLE ROCK, Ark — President Donald Trump's top coronavirus adviser on Monday said friends and families holding parties are driving the virus's spread in the community, issuing the warning as outbreaks at some colleges around the country are being tied to large gatherings and Arkansas schools prepare to reopen.
Dr. Deborah Birx delivered that message to Governor Asa Hutchinson and other state leaders at a roundtable luncheon.
She also cheered encouraging trends she sees as she wraps up a 19-state "listening tour" this past weekend, making stops in Heartland states.
"Tens of thousands of lives can be saved if we wear masks and we don't have parties in our backyards," Dr. Birx said to reporters after the roundtable.
The doctor has been the White House mask messenger while on the tour, despite mixed messages from the President about wearing masks.
For Dr. Birx, the time away from the Washington spotlight allows her to focus her warnings not just on masks, but on the role they play now in how the virus is spreading in the community.
"We're finding that the majority of community spread right now is happening from parties, either indoors or outdoor," she said.
"If you go to a party and you have an older grandmother or relative or aunt recovering from cancer, please wear a mask."
She says it's not bars and restaurants, but family and friendly gatherings. We let our guard down with the ones we love and that lets the virus spread, and that includes the little ones with a crucial week ahead.
"If there's active circulation of high cases of new infections this week, you can assume there will be children infected that first day of school," she said while stopping short of commenting on Arkansas' plans to reopen schools to mostly in-person beginning next Monday.
As for testing, she said help is on the way, but not necessarily the way the governor might want it. Nursing homes will get priority for antigen testing supplies for now.
That puts a crimp in plans to focus the quick-turnaround procedure on schools, as governor Hutchinson envisioned.
"Just because we know nursing home residents are the most vulnerable to this virus, at least historically," Dr. Birx said.
While we wait for faster tests and vaccines, Dr. Birx keeps coming back to what she says is the best tool we have, and to wear it no matter where you are.
"What happens in the backyard parties is people take off their masks," she said. "You've got to be in a mask when we're close to one another like you are now."