(WPXI) – One of the leading members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force said Pittsburgh and 10 other U.S. cities must take “aggressive” steps to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19, the Center for Public Integrity reported. The Center for Public Integrity says Dr. Deborah Birx called out Pittsburgh — along with Baltimore, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans and St. Louis — during a private call with state and local leaders from those areas. However, Pittsburgh city officials and Allegheny County officials both confirmed to our news partners at Channel 11 that none of their representatives were on that phone call. County spokesperson Amie Downs said no one in the administration received such communication from the task force. Among Birx’s recommendations were that officials in the 11 cities should perform contact tracing for those testing positive for the virus to help mitigate spread. Southwestern Pennsylvania, like the other cities mentioned by Birx, has in recent weeks seen an increase in the percentage of positive coronavirus tests. While the statewide percent-positivity was just 4.4% last week, Beaver, Allegheny and Washington counties had “concerning” rates. Beaver was at 8.2%, Allegheny was at 7.5% and Washington stood at 6.2%.