Brace yourselves, a year into a pandemic and the CDC still can’t give us straight answers. Even CNN’s Jake Tapper was left completely dumbfounded after asking the CDC’s director, Rochelle Walensky if and when schools can open.
Tapper asked Walensky the same question repeatedly and she avoided giving a straightforward answer like the plague- ironically.
Tapper reminded Walensky early on that she is the one who said “schools should be the last thing to close and the first thing to open.”
“Really, what we have said in our guidance is that the amount of classroom activity really depends on the amount of spread in the community. We know that the amount of disease in the community is completely reflected as to what’s happening in school,” she said. “If there’s more disease in the community, there will be more in school, and that most disease in school does not come from in-school transmission, but comes from outside, from into the community. So, what we would advocate for is to have more kids in school, as our community spread comes down.”
“So, the CDC guidelines suggest schools could opt not to reopen in person classes if they’re in a red zone with the high community spread that you just referred to. According to our analysis of federal data, that includes 99 percent of American children,” Tapper said. “But you have said, quote, ‘There’s very little transmission happening in the schools.’ CDC researchers just wrote in ‘JAMA’ that quote, ‘There has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission.’ So, why give schools that opt not to open up?”
Walensky went through different recommendations that the administration is making based on what grade the students are in and said that in order for schools to fully reopen that there needed to be “universal masking” inside schools and a “strict six feet” of social distancing within classrooms.
“But what’s the science? Because you have said there’s, I mean, not just you, but Dr. Fauci, others have been saying for months that the schools should be opened as long as there’s masking and cleansing and social distancing, everything that we talked about,” Tapper said. “If a school is doing that, I understand if there’s a mask violation, that’s a problem. But if a school is doing that, I mean, the damage, as I don’t need to tell you, on kids, the isolation, the psychological damage, the educational loss of a year for many kids, not to mention the thousands of kids who are just slipping through the cracks, I mean, it’s hard to even calculate. And there are a lot of people out there watching who think, like, I thought the science said we should open the schools, as long as we take those safety steps. We’re taking the safety steps, and we’re not opening the schools.”
Tapper, having gotten absolutely nowhere snapped back saying that felt, “dispirited after this conversation” because “I had high hopes that schools would be able to resume in person learning, because so many scientists and health officials, including you and Dr. Fauci and others, had been talking about the science supports opening the schools as much as possible.”
“I know that a lot of teachers are very concerned, and I know the teachers unions have been pushing back on this. But it sounds to me like you’re asking for 100 percent mask compliance and a number of measures that we’re never going to be able to achieve,” Tapper added. “And that makes me feel like, boy, I don’t know if the schools are ever going to open until everybody’s vaccinated.”
Watch
CNN’s Tapper grills the CDC director on school openings after the agency walks back their recommendation on opening; Tapper says their new “red areas,” where schools can opt out from opening, applies to 99 percent of students pic.twitter.com/rIsLIOazwT
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 15, 2021
Did you catch all of that?
Schools should open- but not in communities with Covid
School can open- but not middle or high school.
Elementary school can open- but only if they can follow strict guidelines that are impossible to enforce
Teachers are endangered- but not a priority to vaccinate
Just a reminder, the CDC received $6.8 billion in taxpayer funds to guide the US through the pandemic. This is literally what our money got us- absolute confusion. By now, there are no more excuses. We are a year into the pandemic, for the CDC to still be spinning their tires and feeding the public confusing and misleading information, at this point, is absolutely unforgivable.
I don’t know about you, but I want a refund.
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