Several states embraced new guidelines from the CDCn that say fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors or out in most situations. But others took a wait-and-see attitude.
End of CDC masking guidelines aimed at “normalizing” death
David J. Sencer CDC Museum in Atlanta, GA [Source: Wikimedia Commons]
“Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky declared.
But with nearly two thirds of the American population not fully vaccinated, there is no effective way to determine who is vaccinated and who is not. The change in the CDC’s guidelines will mean that all people, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, will be allowed to gather indoors, including at mass events like sporting events, without masks. The result will be a significant increase in the rate at which the disease spreads.
Collaboration Between CDC and Teachers Union Doesn’t Help Our Kids
Commentary By
Jude Schwalbach is a research associate and project coordinator in education policy at The Heritage Foundation.
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its school reopening guidance in February, teachers unions lauded the new regulations. But one union’s plaudits likely didn’t come as a surprise to government officials, since it helped write at least two of those guidelines.
The nonprofit watchdog group Americans for Public Trust, through a Freedom of Information Act request, obtained email exchanges between the CDC’s top officials and American Federation of Teachers’ bosses leading up to the February guidance.
More than a dozen states quickly embraced new federal guidelines that say fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors or out in most cases. But other states and cities and some major businesses hesitated amid doubts about whether the approach is safe or even workable. As many business owners pointed out, there is no easy way to determine who has been vaccinated and who hasn t. And the new guidelines, issued Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, essentially work on the honor system, leaving it up to people to do the right thing. Labor groups and others warned that employees at stores, restaurants, bars and other businesses could be left exposed to the coronavirus from customers and could be forced into the unwanted role of vaccination police.
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The head of the second-largest teachers union in the United States is calling on a full return to five-day-a-week in-person learning at all schools in the fall, declaring that her organization was “all-in.”
In an address posted on social media, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers said that with more and more Americans becoming eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, it is imperative that schools fully reopen for students and staff during the next academic year.
“Conditions have changed,” she said. We can and we must reopen schools in the fall for in-person teaching, learning, and support. And keep them open. Fully and safely, five days a week.”