CDC issues new eviction ban for most of US through Oct. 3
Source: AP
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new eviction moratorium that would last until October 3, as the Biden administration sought to quell intensifying criticism from progressives that it was allowing vulnerable renters to lose their homes during a pandemic. The ban announced Tuesday could help keep millions in their homes as the coronavirus’ delta variant has spread and states have been slow to release federal rental aid.
It would temporarily halt evictions in counties with “substantial and high levels” of virus transmissions and would cover areas where 90% of the U.S. population lives. The announcement was a reversal for the Biden administration, which allowed an earlier moratorium to lapse over the weekend after saying a Supreme Court ruling prevented an extension. That ripped open a dramatic split between the White House and progressive Democrats who insisted the administration do more to prevent some 3.6 million Americans from losing their homes during the COVID-19 crisis.
Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Biden said he pushed the CDC to again consider its options. But he still seemed hesitant as to whether the new moratorium could withstand lawsuits about its constitutionality, saying he has sought the opinions of experts as to whether the Supreme Court would approve the measure. “The bulk of the constitutional scholarship says that it’s not likely to pass constitutional muster,” Biden said. “But there are several key scholars who think that it may and it’s worth the effort.”
The president added that the moratorium — even if it gets challenged in court — “will probably give some additional time” for states and city to release billions of dollars in federal relief to renters. Politically, the extension could help heal a rift with liberal Democratic lawmakers who were calling on the president to take executive action to keep renters in their homes. The administration had spent the past several days scrambling to reassure Democrats and the country that it could find a way to limit the damage from potential evictions through the use of federal aid.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-65770ddb7396b08b4cb6f6a074cc5ca3
I heard him mention multiple times at his presser this afternoon, that he was going to let CDC describe what the plans were and they would be releasing them "within an hour or two" (of when he was speaking, which was sometime around 4 pm ET).
Here is their order - https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s0803-cdc-eviction-order.html
PDF of order with citations - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/Signed-CDC-Eviction-Order.pdf
= new reply since forum marked as read
Particularly now that Delta is surging around the country!
We've only got a little over a month till school starts - and even in my rural New York county, most of the breakout cases (and Covid news always makes the front page of the paper) were in local schools. This county is currently reporting 50 active cases, 9 new, 3 hospitalized and 1 in critical condition - as of today. 
(similar to what happened last summer), and the public school system here in Philly indicated that there would be a mask mandate for students, faculty, and other staff/employees when they start up again at the end of August. Of course for all we know there might end up being a heatwave that results in 1/2 day closures of the schools that week too, like the last time they tried starting before Labor Day a couple years ago, but that's a whole other issue. 
The city Health Department had a presser today to announce that they were re-starting their weekly briefings (that had been dropped back in June) and are supposed to start reporting the cases daily again (after dropping back to twice a week). We have been doubling about every 7 - 10 days, although way below our peak from this past spring, but still up to over 100 cases a day now (after dropping down to around 20 - 30 before July 4th). During our peaks, we were in the thousands per day.
The city has about 71% of eligible residents > 18 with one dose, so we have made some progress. But now it's to get to the tweens and young teens.
Looking at the calendar, I'm guessing it would likely be September 8th. And I'm also guessing that there's a lot of planning and work going on right now to get ready to protect students by then. Last year, I checked out my former elementary school and the plans they were making were mind boggling, combinations of in-person and virtual learning, "social distancing," how to manage lunch periods, and I'm also guessing that the plans changed many times as situations came up. Also, all the kids in my current school district wore masks, even the youngest ones, I often saw them getting off the buses.
What I don't get is schools opening in what's still officially summer, especially in southern states where it's unbearably hot. I went to summer camp in Vermont growing up and we were there all summer - both July and August. Terms were all of July or all of August, or both, and we had girls from numerous other states and Canada, too. 
As for Covid, it sounds even worse here than last year. This mainly rural county now leads the state in positive tests according to the paper last week. I was hoping that those eligible 12-and-over kids would take the opportunity to get vaccinated before school starts next month. There were shutdowns at the end of last year due to breakouts, one close local high school suspended sports and after school activities because of a breakout.
What surprised me was that the large state-run vaccine site at the local mall shut down at the end of July - and it's just down the road from the school(s). That's where I took my brother back in May and while I was waiting, I noticed a few young teens coming out with their Moms - they caught my attention since they stopped for photos, one young girl stood next to the sign with her sleeve rolled up. 
and we never did that here, but the current superintendent (who was originally from MD, so I guess since that is below the Mason-Dixon line, is considered "the south" ) was the one pushing it.
The reasoning was so that they could end the school year "earlier" (kids were normally were out by about the 3rd week of June). And the very first time he and the then School Reform Commission (now disbanded) finally got their way, the schools ended up having to close just noon because most of them had no air-conditioning A large number of those schools were built in the early 1900s (from the early teens to the early-mid 30s under Roosevelt's WPA). It was a mess because the superintendent had a fantasy that a majority of the schools had some kind of AC and his numbers were reverse of the reality. 
Philadelphia School District said it would again dismiss students at 1 p.m. on Thursday and cancel all after-school activities.
by Robert Moran
Published Aug 29, 2018
A Northeast High School teacher was taken to a hospital and "numerous students" fell ill because of the heat on Wednesday, the third day of 90-plus temperatures gripping the region and the first week of the new schedule of pre-Labor Day classes for the School District.With no immediate relief in the forecast, the district said it would again dismiss students at 1 p.m. Thursday and cancel all after-school activities. In an email to some fellow staffers at Northeast High School, principal Omar F. Crowder said, "We had a teacher who was taken out of the school by ambulance due to heat-related sickness this morning." Crowder added that "numerous students" also fell ill due to the heat.
(snip)
In a statement, the district conceded that this week has been miserable. "As heat builds during the day, buildings are experiencing uncomfortable conditions. Because temperatures are remaining high into the evening, many buildings are not cooling overnight," the statement read. "Only 27 percent of the district's school buildings have central air-conditioning."
(snip)
In a Wednesday letter to Hite, State Rep. Rosita C. Youngblood (D., Phila.) said she had become "increasingly worried about the students" in the district and their instructional time during the heat wave. Youngblood asked Hite to list how many district buildings have air-cooling systems, noting that Hite had said in a recent television appearance that the number was more than 60 percent, but that a recent news report said the figure, according to the district, was only 40 percent.
Whack said 59 school buildings — 27 percent of the district's total — have central air. Some of the others are cooled with window or wall units, while others only have fans.
(snip)
https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/breaking/philly-schools-suffer-in-heat-wave-20180829.html
They spent the past couple years installing window units in many of the schools and are now supposed to be adding air purifiers for every classroom for COVID mitigation. I think the air purifiers will really help for other things in those old buildings that have poor ventilation, including mold that is a big problem due to roof and pipe leaks.
I remember last year when there were concerns about Covid in schools, seeing pix of a crowded school hallway - which I can remember at my public high school during class changes. I think it was in Texas in August and I wondered how they stood it even during pre-Covid times.
I went to a great many schools in my life, both public and private (finished high school at a private boarding girls' school in Massachusetts) and some were ancient and others were brand new. They were still building parts of my college when I went there, lots of mud in the Spring. But I'm guessing that the majority of schools are older buildings and the ventilation must be a huge problem, especially now. I still have bad dreams about the school where I went to 7th grade. I know now that it was built in 1911 since it was turned into offices and they had a big anniversary in 2011, invited teachers and students that had gone there over the years. I can remember in warm weather they'd leave the doors to the fire escapes open to the outside.
But if it was that warm here in New York during the Spring, I can't imagine how it is in Southern states in August - it's often unbearably hot here. When I was in school, I had a summer job at an amusement park and it was hot enough then that the boss would send the mechanics around with "salt pills" for us ride operators. I was lucky that I didn't spend all my time standing out in the sun, I drove the purple train that went through the jungle (woods). 
But I've often wondered how workers there stand it now, since we know that it's gotten much hotter.
Its hard to believe we're starting a second year with Covid - which should mean that schools - and everyone else - have had a whole year to prepare. But I'm guessing that, especially in areas that still deny the virus, they're as unprepared as they were a year ago.
and had municipalities that sprawled more, the schools could be built to "sprawl" and have maybe no more than 3 floors.
Most of the schools I went to until I was in HS, had 4-5 floors and were all brick or stone - literally becoming "pizza ovens" in hot weather. When you have buildings like that, they absorb the heat - especially after an extended heatwave, and are slow to cool down at night, so it's already hot in the classrooms the next morning.
We used to laugh about those hot days near the end of June right before school let out where the teachers would pull out the gigantic pedestal fans, turn out the lights, and have us kids open the windows (everyone fighting over getting to use the "window pole" with the little hook on top to reach up to pull down the top sash), and then sit quietly watching the bees flying in and around the classroom.
And agree - this is coming on the 2nd full year, although they have finally put their foot down here in the city about doing "in person" classrooms and what was REALLY required to do that. There was already overcrowding in the schools, so trying to add mitigation in the small classrooms is definitely going to be a challenge (particularly distancing, which is nearly impossible).
I think the masking, air purifiers, as much distancing as possible, barriers, and proper ventilation (another issue in the old piece of junk buildings) will go a long way to helping.
