Public Health Experts Decry New CDC Guidelines Pushing School Reopenings As 'Politically Driven'..
'Public Health Experts Denounce New CDC Document Pushing School Reopenings as 'Politically Driven' and 'Irresponsible.'
"With outbreaks raging in the U.S., this can spell disaster." By Jake Johnson, staff writer, Common Dreams, 7/24/20.
Public health experts are warning that a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document strongly touting the benefits of reopening schools in the fall while downplaying the risks paints a politically motivated and misleading picture of the science that could put students, educators, and entire communities in danger of contracting Covid-19 as infections surge nationwide.
The document, titled "The Importance of Reopening America's Schools This Fall," was posted on the CDC's website Thursday as part of a broader set of resources and tools designed to help school administrators, teachers, parents, and others safely navigate the process of resuming in-person instruction.
Experts said much of the new material released by the CDC's is reasonable and helpful, discussing the importance of in-person learning for child development while also detailing the serious risks involved in reopening schools amid a global pandemic. (The full package of resources released by CDC Thursday can be viewed here.)
But the document openly advocating school reopenings drew condemnation from experts who characterized it as clearly driven by a political agenda rather than science and concern for the health of students, school faculty, and the broader public. "To CDC: you do not need to convince Americans about the importance of in-person schooling. We get it. We need you to guide us on the science and how we can safely reopen. Guidelines should be based on public health—not political considerations."- Dr. Leana Wen, George Washington University
Read More,
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/24/public-health-experts-denounce-new-cdc-document-pushing-school-reopenings
- "The New Stability"- A Dark and Insightful Perspective From A Covid-19 Doctor,' Daily Kos, July 26, 2020,
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/7/26/1963878/--The-New-Stability-an-insightful-perspective-from-a-COVID-19-Doctor
.."The morning you die, I don’t want to be there — like most mornings now, when I rise against my whole will and crawl dejectedly into scrubs. I don’t want to be a plague doctor or a hero on TV.
This paragraph steps out of the hospital and nails the incompetence and cruelty of trump and the GOP — past and future.
Now on the news, White men hold guns and signs that say “live free or die” to protest the lockdown. I imagine what they will look like dying on vents in ICUs staffed by doctors lacking sleep and proper training, soaked in moral fatigue. I imagine what their wives will sound like on the phone as they cry and say “Do everything.” I wonder if these wives will thank me or tell me to be safe."