WHAT TO MAKE OF THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL’S NEW COVID-19 GUIDELINES

Posted on February 17, 2021 by Tom Salmon
School closed by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) (virus picture from here (wikipedia.org))

What was wrong with old guidelines? Not much talk about that. Here is the beginning of NPR’s report.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Friday its much-anticipated, updated guidance to help school leaders decide how to safely bring students back into classrooms, or keep them there.

Rather than a political push to reopen schools, the update is a measured, data-driven effort to expand on old recommendations and advise school leaders on how to “layer” the most effective safety precautions: masking, physical distancing, hand-washing and respiratory etiquette, ventilation and building cleaning, and contact tracing.

For politicians, parents and school leaders looking for a clear green light to reopen schools, this is not it.

“CDC is not mandating that schools reopen,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Friday on a phone briefing with reporters. (continued)

CDC Releases New Guidelines For Reopening Schools : NPR

What is wrong with the new guidelines? Here is a straightforward explanation.

It’s an excellent afternoon to be a treasurer for a private school, or an accelerationist seeking to hollow out public support for the government-run education system.

That’s because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), under pressure from the most teachers-union-friendly White House since at least the 1970s, just released its long-awaited school reopening guidelines, which include the core recommendation that all schools—regardless of age level or ventilation standards or community spread of COVID-19—maintain social distancing of at least six feet.

The CDC’s “science-based reopening” guidance includes five key considerations, presented in order of emphasis: 1) mask-wearing, 2) social distancing, 3) handwashing, 4) cleaning, and 5) contact tracing. Director Rochelle Walensky in a conference call emphasized “prioritizing the first two,” which means that in every school—including ones that are already open, using less stringent standards—there should be student distancing of “at least six feet,” accomplished if need be by “cohorting or podding of students.” (continued)

CDC’s New ‘Reopening’ Guidance Will Keep Schools Closed in the Fall – Reason.com

Instead of letting science drive the CDC’s guidelines, the Biden administration has yielded to the desires of the teachers unions. Why don’t the teachers unions want their members to go back to work. God knows, but it obviously doesn’t have anything to do with their concern for the children or safety. Florida Governor Ron DesSantis has made that clear.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took aim at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a fiery speech in which he highlighted his state’s commitment to keeping schools open.

“What the CDC put out, 5:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, I wonder why they would do it then, was quite frankly a disgrace. It would require, if you actually follow that, closing 90% of schools in the United States,” DeSantis said. “We are open, we remain open, and we are not turning back.” (continued)

DeSantis calls updated CDC guidance a ‘disgrace’ and blasts Democrats over teachers unions (washingtonexaminer.com)

Here in Prince William County we are lucky enough have School Board members, in particular Chairman at-Large Babur Lateef, who have rallied fellow board members fighting reopen our schools. Make sure you thank those members who have shown more concern for the children than the teachers unions.

Question. Why are we depending upon the government to educate our children? Worse! Why do we allow the government to run our school? Contemplate all the choices we make for our children and grandchildren. If we can decide how to feed, cloth, shelter, and discipline our children, why do we need other people spending our money and educating our children for us? We can’t choose a decent school without a politician’s help? Are the teachers politicians choose better “experts” than the teachers we could select on our own? Before you answer, contemplate the Yugo (A Quick Look at the Yugo, the Worst Car in History (caranddriver.com)), an automobile manufactured by the government supposedly for the People.

Why do the public schools still work to the extent that they do?

  • We still have a free people. When public officials stop listening to us, we can raise Hell until they do.
  • We have children educated in private schools and at home that provide us a basis for comparison.
  • We can look across the country to see if other public schools are doing better.

Unfortunately, we are slowing losing our freedom. With each generation, the public schools teach our children less and less about the truths of our nation’s history. In fact, the public schools promote beliefs in direct conflict with the beliefs of parents. Unfortunately, as each year passes the teachers unions put greater pressure on private schools and homeschooling. To increase their power, those in charge of government-run monopolies destroy rivals. Unfortunately, regardless of whether their efforts are constitutional or not, Federal officials seek greater uniformity across the country in our public schools. Thus, as our schools grow steadily worse, each succeeding generation loses any basis it might have for comparison. Therefore, if we want school choice, now is the time to fight for it.

Additional References

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