Wait, what?
After weeks and weeks of the Trump administration saying how important it is to get kids back in school for in-person learning, Dr. Deborah Birx told CNN on Sunday that this isn’t the case in places where there is a “high case load and community spread” of COVID-19:
.@DanaBashCNN presses Dr. Deborah Birx on school reopenings.
“If you have high case load and active community spread … we’re asking people to distance learn at this moment so we can get this epidemic under control,” Dr. Birx says. #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/EgJwa8JjhY
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) August 2, 2020
This is not good, to say the least:
Dr Birx – WH coronavirus response coordinator – told me she agreed with CDC that school districts with 5 percent or higher infection rate should stay closed.. despite push from POTUS and DeVos. Watch below https://t.co/2ND5wydZgh
— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) August 2, 2020
So, in just how much of the U.S. then kids should do remote learning? Because she also said that the outbreak now is different in March and April and “it is extraordinarily widespread”:
Dr. Birx today @CNN "What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread." Pres Trump on Friday: "We'll beat it & it'll be soon..We want to get our schools open..our businesses open. Much of the country is open..we're doing really well.."
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) August 2, 2020
Recommended
Oh, and you need to wear a mask at home, too:
On CNN, Birx escalates rules for personal behavior:
1) “If you’re in multi-generational households and there’s an outbreak in your [area], you need to really consider wearing a mask at home.”
2) If you vacation in a hotspot, you "need to come back [and] assume you’re infected.”
— Will Saletan (@saletan) August 2, 2020
We’ll echo this: “This is an incredible departure from what Birx and other task force officials told governors just a few weeks ago”:
This is an incredible departure from what Birx and other task force officials told governors just a few weeks ago. On that call, they told governors that there was a way to reopen schools safely. They also said surveillance testing shouldn't necessarily be required https://t.co/nUxGTegsgT
— Erin Banco (@ErinBanco) August 2, 2020
From last week on one of these calls:
On the gov call last week, PENCE: "It is the unanimous recommendation of all of the scientists on the WH coronavirus task force that kids are better off back in school." Pence calls on Redfield on the call to back him up.
— Erin Banco (@ErinBanco) August 2, 2020
And this contradicts what the head of the CDC said just a few days ago:
Opening schools will be good for the health of our children because so many depend on schools for mental health & nutrition services. The risk to children in far greater by not being in face-to-face education. Full interview with @chuckandkelly on @810WGY: https://t.co/dIzB7ZEjnV
— Dr. Robert R. Redfield (@CDCDirector) July 30, 2020
Well, Dr. Birx made union boss Randi Weingarten happy anyway:
We've been saying this for months. You have to get community spread under control before you start reopening schools. https://t.co/wTs93XZao0
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) August 3, 2020
***
Join the conversation as a VIP Member