CDC 'Misinterpreted' Research on Schools Reopening

With more and more Americans receiving COVID-19 vaccines, one contentious topic of discussion in the political arena has been the reopening of schools. While Republicans have argued why students should return back to schools, Democrats have defended the idea of staying remote in order to not further expose anyone to COVID-19. However, with a new report indicating that the CDC “misinterpreted” research on school reopenings, Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) joined some of his Republican Senate colleagues in issuing a letter to Rochelle Walensy, the Centers of Disease Control director.

In the letter, the lawmakers demand that “a Tiger Team composed of public health experts” be created “to identify and address the source of this failure, align the guidance with science, and get our students back to school.” In fact, Senate Republicans introduced an amendment that would “incentivize schools to reopen,” but Senate Democrats voted against the amendment. Instead, Democrats “moved forward with $123 billion in funding that has no ties to any specific reopening timing.” This caused Republican leadership to also take aim at teacher's unions for supporting school closures.

"The endless moving of goalposts by teachers' unions make it hard to see a future in which our students will be able to pursue the in-person education they deserve. On February 12,  2021, the CDC admitted that. listening sessions, with parents and teachers led to direct. changes to their original draft guidance. By putting forth biased, unscientific guidance, the CDC made a clear decision to side with teachers. unions over the well-being of students," the lawmakers wrote.

As a result, they argued that the Biden Administration is acting counterproductively by keeping schools closed when the “science” indicates otherwise. “If schools across the country followed the Biden Administration’s unscientific CDC guidance to the letter, more than 90 percent of them would be forced to close,” wrote the lawmakers.

 Ultimately, they noted that the CDC has suggested that “it should loosen the rules” when it comes to reopening schools. 

In an op-ed from four leading scientists, they write that “keeping schools closed or even partially closed, based on what we know now is harming children.” Although President Joe Biden (D) had expressed some optimism about opening up schools earlier this year, that trajectory changed with the President retracting his comments shortly after.