White House doubles down on commitment to school reopening guidelines even as Jen Psaki downplays CDC study of rural Wisconsin
The White House said Thursday that President Joe Biden wants schools to reopen and remain open, even as press secretary Jen Psaki downplayed a CDC study of relatively safe re-openings in Wisconsin by saying it might not apply elsewhere.
Biden wants to reopen a majority of K-8 schools during his first 100 days in office, and is pushing a $1.9 trillion relief bill that includes funds for testing, equipment and upgrades for schools.
The push comes amid a series of studies showing schools have not been spreading infections – providing ammunition for proponents of reopening, even as unions in Chicago and other public school systems balk at reopening decisions amid high infection rates.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pointed out limitations in a CDC study that found rural Wisconsin schools that reopened had less COVID-19 than in the county at large, saying 'for areas there they are more populated, for schools with more foot traffic that there are going to need to be a lot of steps put in place in order to make the schools reopening safe'
'Well, first let me be absolutely clear. President Biden wants schools to open and he wants them to stay open because it's obviously very disruptive for families,' Psaki said Thursday.
'That means making sure, as you said, that every school is able to have the equipment and resources to open safely. Not just rural schools or private schools, which often is a lot of where the school reopenings and schools staying open is happening,' she said.
'It's more of a challenge in public schools where they don't have that funding from tuition or smaller populations where it's easier to put in place the actions needed to keep the schools open,' she continued, before referencing a new Centers for Disease Control study.
'But the CDC study which I know has received a lot of attention was based on kind of an area that was more rural in Wisconsin,' she said, referencing comments by new CDC head Dr. Rochelle Walensky, saying that 'for areas there they are more populated, for schools with more foot traffic that there are going to need to be a lot of steps put in place in order to make the schools reopening safe.'
Chicago teachers have defied an order from state officials to go back to classrooms despite not being vaccinated against COVID-19, voting to carry on teaching from home
Chicago Teachers Union leadership list their demands and leave a box of coal outside the entrance of City Hall following a car caravan where teachers and supporters demanded a safe and equitable return to in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chicago, IL on December 12, 2020
President Joe Biden directed the CDC and the Education Department to produce guidelines on safely reopening schools
The CDC study in Wisconsin found that 'among 17 rural Wisconsin schools, reported student mask-wearing was high, and the COVID-19 incidence among students and staff members was lower than in the county overall.'
It also concluded: 'With masking requirements and student cohorting, transmission risk within schools appeared low, suggesting that schools might be able to safely open with appropriate mitigation efforts in place.'
Schools in the study used masks, kept class sizes small and kept students six feet apart, among other safety measures.
The study did not possible limitations, including that 'rural schools might differ in important ways from those in more densely populated areas. For example, the capacity to achieve physical distancing in schools might differ if classroom size and outdoor space in rural schools is different from that in suburban or urban schools.'
Biden signed an executive order requiring the Education Department and CDC to provide guidance to local schools on reopening.
'So that will include things like testing, smaller class sizes, more ventilation, better cleaning, PPE, strong state and local public health guidance. But we want to provide that clarity from the federal government because there's a lot of confusion,' Psaki said.
Researchers in a new Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network article concluded that 'the preponderance of available evidence from the fall school semester has been reassuring.'
They cited the Wisconsin study, as well as events in Mississippi, North Carolina, and Europe. 'As many schools have reopened for in-person instruction in some parts of the U.S. as well as internationally, school-related cases of COVID-19 have been reported, but there has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission,' they found.
The issue presents a potential tension point for Biden, who has made a point of saying his administration will follow science, even as teachers unions have dug in on school conditions and reopening.
'We don’t know whether a vaccine stops transmissibility,” said American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten amid unions fighting efforts to have members back in classrooms while the virus is still raging in the community.
Weingarten briefed White House staff amid the standoff in Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. 'People know that in-person learning is really important, but they want to be safe,' Weingarten told the paper.
No comments