CDC could set requirements to reopen school this week, says Biden



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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could set out the conditions for reopening schools as early as Wednesday, President Biden said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

Biden told CBS’s Norah O’Donnell in an interview that aired partly before the Super Bowl that he believed “it’s time for schools to reopen safely,” after calling it a “national emergency” that approximately 20 million American children have been out of school for almost a year.

“We need fewer people in the classroom,” he says. “You have to have ventilation systems that have been reworked. Our CDC commissioner is going to present a science-based judgment, I think, as early as Wednesday, in order to define the minimum requirements.

When O’Donnell said it was “so hard that the kids can’t play sports now,” the President replied, “It really is.

“I think of the price that a lot of my grandchildren and your children are going to pay for not having had the chance to finish anything,” he said. “That graduation where you couldn’t cross the stage. I think they are going through a lot, these children.

Schools across the country are debating whether to reopen in-person education, which is widely seen as more effective for learning, or continue to learn remotely as the coronavirus continues to spread in the United States.

Biden had promised to reopen schools in his first 100 days as president, but that goal could face hurdles as new strains of COVID-19 considered more contagious circulate across the country.

Teacher unions and school districts disagree on whether current plans are safe for children and staff to return to in-person learning, especially in Chicago and Minneapolis, some pushing for stronger immunization plans.

CDC director Rochelle Welensky said last week that vaccinating teachers is “not a prerequisite for the safe reopening of schools.

The United States is approaching 27 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and has reached more than 463,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.



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