Dr. Birx urges more men to get tested for coronavirus

FPI / April 12, 2020

Even though data shows they are more likely to test positive than women, many men with symptoms of coronavirus are reluctant to seek help, the White House Coronavirus Task Force said.

Women make up 56 percent of those tested for coronavirus, of which 16 percent were found to be infected, task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said during the April 9 White House coronavirus briefing. In comparison, 23 percent of tested men were positive.

“It gives you an idea about how men often don’t present to the healthcare delivery system until they have greater symptom ontology,” Birx said.

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the U.S. had conducted more than two million tests.

Birx said men needed to do a better job of getting help.

“I see a lot of men in the audience today. I just want to remind them about the importance of health care. This is to all of our men out there, no matter what age group, if you have symptoms you should be tested,” Birx said.

At the beginning of this week, the New York state health department reported that, of 4,758 deaths since March 14, 61 percent were men and 39 percent were women.

Task force adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, an infectious diseases specialist, said there was good news in statistics that demonstrated social distancing was having an impact in New York.

“At the same time we are seeing the increase in deaths we are seeing a rather dramatic decrease in the need for hospitalizations,” Fauci said. “Like, I think yesterday it was something like 200 new hospitalizations, and it has been as high as 1,400 at any given time, so that is going in the right direction.”

Fauci has repeatedly said that the death rate would lag behind the hospitalization rate and that it would be a mistake to conclude that mitigation efforts were not working even if the death toll went up.

“That means what we are doing is working, therefore, we need to continue to do it. I know I sound like a broken record — that's because I want to sound like a broken record."

Free Press International