{"id":31656,"date":"2021-02-12T16:21:07","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T00:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=31656"},"modified":"2021-02-12T16:21:07","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T00:21:07","slug":"cdc-calls-for-schools-to-reopen-with-precautions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=31656","title":{"rendered":"CDC calls for schools to reopen with precautions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday released a long-awaited roadmap on safely reopening schools, emphasizing the importance of having schools open as long as proper coronavirus safety precautions are followed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/click1.email.thehill.com\/wgzzktfqjddbhthdbwgjjbzzjfbmdfdyysjqtnmddfgwdv_xbddrrhvhtdbdhdjhcvp.html?a=&amp;b=36884\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/click1.email.thehill.com\/wgzzktfqjddbhthdbwgjjbzzjfbmdfdyysjqtnmddfgwdv_xbddrrhvhtdbdhdjhcvp.html?a%3D%26b%3D36884&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1613260417625000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFOUb3c8K9fBR6WJBfMHdnJ_b_7lw\">The guidance states<\/a>\u00a0it is &#8220;critical for schools to open as safely and as soon as possible,&#8221; given the benefits of in-person learning.<\/p>\n<p>The top recommendations for doing so safely:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Universal wearing of masks by students, staff and teachers<\/li>\n<li>Distancing so that people are six feet apart<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Notably not a top priority:\u00a0<\/strong>Making sure every teacher is vaccinated, which has been a major sticking point in the fights between teacher&#8217;s unions and school districts. CDC reiterated that states should prioritize teachers for vaccination, but said it is not a prerequisite for reopening. Still, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten was largely supportive of the guidance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Color coding:\u00a0<\/strong>The CDC breaks transmission levels for communities surrounding schools into four levels. At &#8220;low&#8221; and &#8220;moderate&#8221; transmission, all K-12 schools can open for full in-person instruction with distancing &#8220;to the greatest extent possible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The far more common situation in the U.S. right now, however, is &#8220;substantial&#8221; or &#8220;high&#8221; spread.<\/p>\n<p>In &#8220;substantial,&#8221; schools should be in hybrid instruction, the CDC says. In &#8220;high&#8221; spread, middle and high schools should be in virtual-only school unless &#8220;they can strictly implement all mitigation strategies&#8221; and have few cases.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What&#8217;s different:\u00a0<\/strong>The guidelines are not that dissimilar to what came out over the summer from the Trump administration, but the Biden administration is leaning on having more scientific credibility. CDC Director\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/click1.email.thehill.com\/ljwqsfzphmmrlflmrdjhhrqqhzrcmzmyynhpfwcmmzjdmd_xbddrrhvhtdbdhdjhcvp.html?a=&amp;b=36884\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/click1.email.thehill.com\/ljwqsfzphmmrlflmrdjhhrqqhzrcmzmyynhpfwcmmzjdmd_xbddrrhvhtdbdhdjhcvp.html?a%3D%26b%3D36884&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1613260417625000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEk6tYCFyim-gQYFSM-x2TMdpoWGg\">Rochelle Walensky<\/a>\u00a0said Friday that there had been no &#8220;political meddling&#8221; in her agency&#8217;s recommendations, though she added she had shared some pieces with the White House to let them know what the CDC was planning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Centers for Disease Control and&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-health","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31657,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31656\/revisions\/31657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}