New York Times: Internal CDC documents warn full reopening of schools is ‘highest risk’ for coronavirus spread
It is unclear whether the President viewed the CDC document, according to the Times.
CNN has reached out to the CDC and the White House and has not yet received a response.
The document, mostly comprised of CDC documents already publicly available, mentions reopening plans from states, districts, and individual schools and universities, identifying some proposals as consistent with CDC guidance and criticizing the “noticeable gaps” in other plans, the Times reported.
Trump on Wednesday criticized the CDC’s guidelines for safely reopening schools as “very tough” and “expensive.” He wrote on Twitter Friday that “schools must be open in the Fall,” arguing that virtual learning is “TERRIBLE” compared to in-school or on-campus learning.
During a White House task force briefing Wednesday, Pence announced that the CDC would issue new guidance on reopening schools next week because “we just don’t want the guidance to be too tough.”
Both he and CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, a task force member, said the agency’s recommendations should not be viewed as a barrier to returning children to classrooms.
“I can tell you that those guidance that we put out are out, and they stand,” Redfield told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
Redfield said that CDC is planning to expand on the guidelines by releasing additional documents and tools related to reopening schools, which he said Pence was referring to in his comments.
“But at the end of the day, these guidances are just that — they’re guidances, which the local schools and districts need to then incorporate into a practical, real plan that they can operationalize to begin to get these young people back to school safely,” Redfield said.
The current guidelines, last updated in May, say the “lowest risk” setting for Covid-19 spread is virtual-only learning options, while listing full-sized, in-person classes that lack social distancing as the “highest risk” setting.
CNN’s Betsy Klein and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
