She did, it was an effort to offset Trump's ban on travel from China, which was called "racist" at the time. It was nearly all politicized by both of course. Any chance to gig someone was taken even if it was silly.
I stopped "listening" to ANY politician about it, and then I mostly stopped listening to any expert, or at least I'd try and weigh their credibility. I'm not as down on Fauci/Birx as some here. The CDC made some errors of course.
I remember the shut down, and then the governor here opened things up, legally, on April 23, which Trump said was "too soon". The thing is hardly anything opened up. We were getting a lot of take out to help restaurants survive. Slowly a few opened up with tables separated and everyone wearing masks. That was actually a relief.