Coronavirus: Thread

[grarpamp]

>> Fauci Exposed...
>
> CDC and Teachers Unions Exposed...
> It was never about Science, Only Politics and Power...

Who needs Science when you accept it
being made up and dictated to you by the
corrupt Biden-Dems and worthless School Unions...


CDC Issued Last-Minute Changes To School Reopening Guidance After
Being Asked By Teachers Unions, Emails Show

https://www.theepochtimes.com/cdc-issued-last-minute-changes-to-school-reopening-guidance-after-being-asked-by-teachers-unions-emails-show_4060612.html
https://www.scribd.com/document/533919812/Emails-show-teachers-unions-influenced-last-minute-CDC-school-guidance-received-copies-before-public-release

https://www.theepochtimes.com/teachers-union-head-cdc-asked-us-for-language-on-school-reopening-guidelines_3822052.html
https://www.c-span.org/video/?511782-4/washington-journal-randi-weingarten-discusses-reopening-schools

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued
last-minute changes to its school-reopening guidance after two
prominent teachers unions asked the agency to do so, according to
newly obtained emails by watchdog group Americans for Public Trust.

The emails, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by
the watchdog and published online show a string of communications
between the CDC, the National Education Association (NEA), and the
American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the nation’s second-largest
teachers union and one of the top donors to the Democratic Party.

Multiple emails show that both of the teachers unions also received a
copy of the guidance, pertaining to the reopening of K–12 schools,
shortly before the CDC released it to the general public.

    “These documents are further evidence that instead of following
the science, the White House and the CDC allowed politics to influence
policy,” Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for
Public Trust, told Fox News.

One such email from AFT’s senior director of health issues, Kelly
Trautner, to the CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Feb. 11, shows AFT
suggesting alterations be made to the CDC’s guidance just one day
before it was publicly posted.

    “Thank you for your continued openness to our suggestions and
input. We would like to share some thoughts regarding the paragraph
below which was apparently leaked from the imminent guidance on
reopening schools.”

The paragraph reads:

    “At any level of community transmission, all schools can provide
in-person instruction (either full or hybrid), through strict
adherence to mitigation strategies. Recommended learning modes vary to
minimize risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in school by emphasizing
layered mitigation, including school policies requiring universal and
correct mask use. The recommended learning modes (in-person, hybrid)
depend on the level of community transmission and strict adherence to
mitigation.”

Within the email, Trautner says that “it would be great,” if the CDC
insert the line:

    “In the event high-community transmission results from a new
variant of SARS-CoV-2, a new update of these guidelines may be
necessary.”

Trautner goes on to cite concerns over the “likely” implications the
language will have in schools where it is difficult to adhere to
strict mitigation strategies due to them being located in “high
density, crumbling infrastructure areas, and particularly when
community transmission is high.”

    “We don’t believe that any current research has demonstrated that
all schools in those areas can safely reopen,” Trautner wrote.

One day later, on Feb. 12, CDC Chief of Staff Sherri Berger flagged
Trautner’s suggestion for “possible follow-ups.”

Walensky forwarded the email on to the CDC’s Director of Preparedness
and Emerging Infections, Henry Walke, who replied, “Yes, will work
with team.”

On Feb. 12, Walke emailed Walensky with updated language for the
guidance, writing, “see below, new is second paragraph.”

    “Super, thank you for doing that,” Walensky replied, adding, “I’m
so grateful for your help.”

People who are part of standout protest organized by the American
Federation of Teachers chant, hold signs, and raise their fists
outside of the Massachusetts State House in Boston, Mass., on Aug. 19,
2020. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

The emails also show CDC officials coordinating an early release of
the final guidance with both teachers unions.

An email dated Feb. 11 from the CDC’s acting associate director for
communications, Christopher Jones, has the subject headline, “AFT/NEA
closing the loop.”

    “Greta and team will reach out to NEA/AFT this evening to set up a
technical discussion tomorrow with both groups to talk through the CDC
operational strategy,” Jones wrote.

    “Targeting 1130am so they have time to digest prior to the 2 pm
release. Feel free to make that offer when you talk to them this
evening and say CDC will be reaching out later tonight to set it up,”
he continued.

Walensky responded: “Perfect. Will do. Will try to reach them before I
board. Thank you!”

The following day, on Feb. 12, Jones wrote that the Department of
Health and Human Services “said they are comfortable if we want to
send something out at 145 we can. I am going to send the strategy and
FS [fact sheet] to the unions at 145. If you all want to send the FS
to partners at that time, that is fine. Amy, lets send FS to press at
145.”

Jones messaged Becky Pringle, NEA’s president, and Randi Weingarten,
AFT’s president, thanking them for their “continued partnership and
input,” along with a PDF version of the strategy posting that day with
a fact sheet embargoed until 2 p.m.

    “I know not much lead time but wanted to send your way as soon as
was able,” Jones wrote.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers,
speaks during a rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington
on June 9, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

AFT President Randi Weingarten has defended her organization
communicating with the CDC regarding its school opening guidelines
earlier this year.

    “The CDC in February and March basically asked all sorts of
different organizations to sit down with them and give them comments
about what they thought was important,” Weingarten said in an
interview with C-SPAN’s Washington Journal.”They talked to parent
organizations, they talked to the two [teachers] unions.”

    “This is normal rule-making,” she said.

The Epoch Times has contacted the CDC and the National Education
Association and the American Federation of Teachers for comment.