"There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely. Vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for the safe reopening of schools." - CDC Director Rochelle WalenskyGreat news, right? If you're a single parent who's been trying to work while raising children and attempting to home school for the past 10 months, that CDC assessment may qualify as the best news you've heard in your adult life.
But on cue, here comes the teacher unions that don't seem to have the wellbeing of students near the top of their priority lists. Youth suicides continue to skyrocket amid the pandemic, while kids increasingly zoom out from Zoom classes and fall further behind in their education. Some unions argue that conditions for safely reopening still aren't there, pointing to a need for all teachers to be vaccinated despite Walensky pointing to data that say vaccinations are not a prerequisite.
The one person who could put an end to this stalemate is President Biden, but that would require a backbone.
Remember what Biden said throughout the presidential campaign:
"I think it's important to follow the science. Listen to the experts. Do what they tell you," Biden told ABC's George Stephanopoulos last April.
"I'll choose science over fiction. Hope over fear," the Democratic nominee declared at a presidential debate in October.
"Science will always be at the forefront of my administration — and these world-renowned scientists will ensure everything we do is grounded in science, facts and the truth," the then-president-elect said last month in announcing additions to the Office of Science Technology and Policy.
So the choice here appears to be a very simple one, per Biden's own words on the matter.
"Follow the science" means listening to the CDC and the data points its director cites. So does: "Listen to the experts. Do what they tell you to do." As does choosing "science over fiction" and "hope over fear."
A recent CDC report found that mental health-related emergency room visits shot up 31 percent for children ages 12-17 and increased by 24 percent for those ages 5-11 when compared to the non-COVID year of 2019. Youth suicide is also up substantially.
"There has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission," a January CDC report reads in serving as a precursor to the current CDC assessment shared by Walensky.
For the science-and-truth president, this should be an easy lay-up of leadership to display: Go on national television and declare that you'd like to see America's students back in classroom. Now. Explain to the public why virtual learning is not only leaving kids further behind in their education but is also taking a toll on their mental and physical wellbeing.
Biden can promise the unions that improvements will continue to be made to school ventilation and sanitation system. But he should explain that we cannot wait months for these changes to be made.
But this will not happen based on what White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday when asked about Walensky's comments on reopening the schools. Psaki claimed without evidence:
"Dr. Walensky spoke to this in her personal capacity. Obviously, she's the head of the CDC. But we're going to wait for the final guidance to come out so we can use that as a guide for schools around the country."Come again? How could Dr. Walensky be speaking in her personal capacity when she provided the very guidance during a (checks notes) Coronavirus Task Force briefing with reporters as the top of the food chain at the CDC? This is a laughable defense from the White House.
So, what does Dr. Fauci, who leads Biden's COVID Task Force, think about all this? Glad you asked.
"I would back the CDC recommendations because that is really based on data," Fauci told Morning Joe last week in speaking about the recommendations Psaki claims don't yet exist. "We need to try and get the children back to school and that's the goal of President Biden that in the next 100 days to get the K to eights back in school."
Oops.
Meanwhile, the divide between parents and teachers has never been more apparent. An extensive survey out of Helena, Washington, found that 58 percent of parents want schools to go to an all-students model that would have their kids in school five days a week. But when facility and staff were polled, just 27 percent said they wanted an all-students option. That's a 31-percentage point gap.
In the end, President Biden is like most Democrats — beholden to teacher unions that don't seem to care very much about the welfare of children, who they're ultimately supposed to champion.
He could show leadership. He could be the "president to all Americans" he promised to be.
But, once again, we're seeing Biden's words run counter to his deeds. That's not leadership. It's political expediency. Something Joe Biden has scored A-plus after A-plus on during his 47 years in the swamp.
About the Author:
Joe Concha is a media and politics columnist for The Hill.
Reader Comments
I vaguely remember this same message being touted all last year regarding the police unions and why they wanted them disbanded. Hmm, why ok for the teachers union?
I could hear Rodney (RIP) saying that after a press meeting.
WTF ever. Cutting this off now.
R.C.
*Point of almost permanent clarification: We all know that 'Bribem' stole the election - but we also know that 'Bribem', that sorry, clueless fool couldn't pick up his own mail. So when I reference B, etc., I mean those scum Team FUKUSraHells who have been and still are neck deep in scamming America and the world with this charade.
So, presuming that none of us are effectively shut down, how should we deal with this inanity of inanity and farce of farces? Well, for me when I refer to Bribem,, I might eventually might accidentally say 'President', but if I ever do, I am NOT conceding the point that he EVER landed there in the first place.
As even the 'victorious' dims know, he's a 'true'surper/usurper. Same is shown, at a minimum by the way that the dims refuse to defend their own LIES!
P.s., I DO like SOTT's term Bribem "Regime."
R.C.
At least the sorry SOB's ain't fooling SOTTites.
RC
Well, that doesn't leave us much time to enjoy the fresh air until the planet nova's out and we all die from climate change 3 yrs later.
Schools have been known safe since last April. At no time have babies, children, or young adults EVER been at risk. The regular 'ol flu is much better at killing them.
Argh!
RC
Glad to see Lorena Bobbitt is still employed.
I'm guessing, soon they won't have one at all. Use it or loose it is the law of the land. Has been forever.
We could be one strong flue away from it being just me, my critters, and the great wide open. I sure wish they had built better cars, but oh well. I'd be alright with that, I think.
Good bye cruel world...I'm gonna write that song, but it'll be ironic like that.
The overwhelming message of doom and gloom "until a vaccine" was the silliest propaganda ever to exist for this common virus.
Although I guess criminal murderous activity is not "silly"...
[Link]
I think large groups of rats are called a plague. They should be called that; a plague, but I'll admit "plague immunity" sounds like and oxymoron, but then they are a walking contradiction, so maybe it does suit them.
It is typical sneaky rat behavior for the CDC to orwell definitions like that, I think. It just proves what we all know. They are rats. Their god is a disease.
I have been following the erosion of our language for a while, and I'm always interested in any new definitions they have for old words. There have been some real winners too. My favorite one to watch has been the word "citizen." boy there are some interesting variations on that one.
SOTT should put that up!!!
CW: Re HI, e.g., Excellent wordsmithing there!
RC
My ability to spell and manage sentences is really tanking. I reviewed a post I had made here the other day, that when I read it, I found it didn't make a lot of sense. This should be interesting for you guys, if you stick around long enough, I suspect things might get pretty weird. Fortunately, I'm pretty honest, so I won't have any big secrets that I suddenly reveal in some episode that brings me devastating shame. I have a few that I don't like, but in this society moral relativity being what it is, it shouldn't be that bad...they screwed me up pretty good.
"Thanks for ignoring the typo." What typo? I just re scrutinized it and there were only TWO things I might worry about in a doctoral thesis, but aside from that, WTF? (Those two are a semicolon where a comma was better, and 'Orwell.')*
You have a GREAT way with words. (I just wrote that BEFORE I read - am now reading- ! your last paragraph.)
To me it sounds like you are so down on yourself as to be getting into my league. I've always been that way, don't really know why - kinda came built in. I say to you what I say to self: STOP IT!
RC
*I have made so much fun of myself as a grammar Nazi that I'm getting angry for having approached it as I have. I honestly haven't been THAT much.
rc
Respect is a verb too. I can still remember that. Those were the days. I'm glad there's not much need for it anymore. My bag's almost empty...but I don't get to dictate who I share it with, so I'm guessing it'll be gone soon. Funny how that works.
Now there's a word that's come a long way the wrong direction.
Good night, my friend.
RC