Mike Pence: ‘Preliminary Talks’ to Shut Down Coronavirus Task Force by Late May

Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday said the White House was having “preliminary talks” about disbanding the coronavirus task force by Memorial Day or early June.

Pence spoke about this development to a group of reporters, including Breitbart News, at his office at the White House.

“I think we’re having conversations about that, and about what the proper time is for the task force to complete its work,” Pence said. “And for the ongoing efforts to take place on an agency by agency level.”

Pence said that the White House was discussing a transition with FEMA and other agencies for a task force turnover in late May or early June, suggesting that Memorial Day weekend would be a possibility.

“It really is all a reflection of the tremendous progress that we’ve made as a country,” he said.

Coronavirus Task Force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx would remain working at the White House, Pence said.

“We’re going to keep Dr. Deb Birx around every bit as long as we need to,” Pence said.

Birx said she would continue to monitor the trends of the virus in the country.

“We’ll still keep a close eye on the data,” Birx said. “Because we have very good data now, it took us a while to build that capacity and we’ll make sure that we’re watching that at a federal level.”