Jake Tapper pushes back against the CDC Director on their guidelines that now recommend essentially all schools remain closed for in-person instruction:
The new CDC guidelines incorporate positivity rates from the overall community
Following this metric would keep almost all schools closed
But the positivity rates in the schools tend to be much lower
And schools aren't major contributors of overall community transmission.
NYC positivity rate: 7.82%
NYC school positivity rate: 0.55%
"The CDC itself released a study showing this.
It also recently wrote that there is “little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to community transmission.”
Tapper: "I feel a little dispirited after this conversation b/c I had high hopes that schools would resume in-person learning
so many scientists & health officials including you & Dr. Fauci have been talking about 'the science supports opening the schools as much as possible'
Tapper: "I know the teachers unions have been pushing back on this...
You're asking for 100% mask compliance and a number of measures that we're never going to be able to achieve...
Boy, I don't know if the schools are ever going to open until everybody's vaccinated."
Tapper: "You have said 'there is very little transmission happening in the schools'
CDC researchers just wrote 'there has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission'
So why give schools that opt not to open up?"🤔
CDC Director dodges
Tapper: "But President Biden has promised to always follow the science
Can you point to any scientific reasons for students not to return to in-person classes tomorrow as long as schools are taking the 5 steps?"🤔
Tapper: "But what's the science?
Because you have said... Dr. Fauci, others have been saying for months that the schools should be open as long as there's masking, cleansing, social distancing, everything that we talked about..."
Tapper: "There are a lot of people out there who are watching who think:
'I thought the science said we should open the schools as long as we take the safety steps - we're taking the safety steps - and we're not opening the schools?'"🤔
It's time to let families take their children's education dollars elsewhere.
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A school district outside of Chicago is refunding taxpayers $10 million in surplus funding resulting from school closures in 2020.
"A budget surplus resulting from schools being closed most of 2020 will lead to $10 million distributed back to Naperville School District 203 taxpayers."
"This week, the school board authorized the creation of a tax reimbursement account.
The $10 million surplus will be deposited into the fund for a one-time tax reimbursement and the refunds be mailed to recipients as checks."