Former White House COVID Task Force coordinator on Ebola outbreak and aid funding

(CBS, KYMA) - Dr. Deborah Birx, former White House COVID Task Force coordinator and U.S. Global AIDS coordinator, spoke with Nancy Cordes on Face the Nation Sunday about the Ebola outbreak.

According to the World Health Organization, there are almost 750 suspected cases around the Congo and nearly 200 deaths, leading Cordes to ask Dr. Birx how the severity of the situation compares to previous outbreaks, and Birx said:

"The problem with this particular outbreak is there was probably two, three, or four cycles of infection before it was even reported, and so a lot of the numbers you're seeing, and the rapid rise of the numbers, is because it went undetected and underreported for probably three or four weeks. That resulted in a lot of case reporting all at once, and so I can't really tell you what the slope of new cases are, which is really the important thing when you're following an acute infectious disease, but just to make it very clear to your audience, the people we are seeing today that are cases were probably infected two weeks ago. And so I think that's what makes us all concerned, is we're looking at this at this virus and this outbreak with really old data."

Cordes then brought up a report of a plane traveling from Paris to Detroit was diverted to Montreal after a person from the Congo was mistakenly brought on board, prompting her to ask Birx what Americans need to know about the transition of the disease and the risk in the U.S., and Birx said:

"When you see this level of outbreak, ever since COVID, I can understand why people are worried. But remember DRC has had 17 or 18 of these outbreaks in the last 20, 30 years, so this is actually fairly commonplace, although this is a large one. I think we learned from COVID how to be much more proactive about preventing the virus getting to the country ever since we had those cases almost a decade ago. What we did is we really strengthened hospitals. Now we have bio container facilities in multiple hospitals, so we're prepared if it ever happens or someone enters the country. But it's important that we are proactive, like they have been. And when you have a travel ban, you have to really enforce it. And what's what they did when they diverted the plane."

During the interview, Cordes and Birx talked about aid funding, where aid workers in the Congo region said a lot of local programs were terminated after U.S. aid was dismantled, programs aimed at Ebola preparedness and response.

"We need to really look at that. I know CDC's global health security program was retained, and a lot of that funding retained. I know we had people in Kinshasa as part of the CDC. If you look at the Uganda funding—now I'm looking at it from the HIV side, which really built a lot of the laboratory capacity—this year they're getting over $400 million so maybe there was a 5% cut, but I think the American people were thinking that these programs had been slashed. If you look at the MOUs of the agreements that the US government have been made, I've actually been reassured by the numbers that are there on paper."

Cordes then asked Birx if the U.S. is prepared to deal with the Ebola outbreak, or any other infectious diseases if it comes to the country, and Birx said:

"I think it's a great question, and watching how this plays out will be very important. And I'm watching that. They've already created an interagency Ebola response task force, and just to reassure the American public, I was in the federal government for 40 plus years and in the military for 29, there's a deep bench. And so, yes, it's important to have the leads of all of these agencies. I think people have been nominated to at least the CDC, so I think that's very important. But we do have a deep bench in many of these agencies, and I really, I know them, they're great people. I think this interagency response is already putting assets, people, and money on the ground, and I think what we do need, I just keep coming back to African CDC, because that was supposed to be our early mobilizer of protective gear, of testing, of community work, and we just need to figure out how to strengthen that even further."

To watch more of Cordes' interview with Birx, click here.