Fauci says Biden’s plan to reopen schools within 100 days may not happen

Fauci says Biden’s plan to reopen schools within 100 days may not happen

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“The president takes the matter very seriously … both from the student’s point of view and from the teacher’s point of view,” Fauci said during a virtual event sponsored by the National Education Association.

“He wants and believes that the schools must reopen within 100 days, essentially all the K to 8 schools, within 100 days. That is the goal. This may not happen, because there may be mitigating circumstances, but what he really wanted to do was all in his power to contribute. ‘

Biden is urging Congress to approve another $ 170 billion for K-12 schools, colleges and universities to help them work safely personally or facilitate distance education. In December, Congress approved $ 82 billion in aid to schools, which Biden said was a “down payment.”

The new funding would be part of a $ 1.9 billion broad relief package that would also include the extension of unemployment benefits and direct incentive tests.

“I’ll give you a word: money,” White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told Erin Burnett, CNN, this week when asked why he thinks some public schools across the country are still closed in places where private schools is open. “That’s why, even before he took office, the president of the United States sent a plan to make the investments you need to make the schools safe.”
Klain referred to a study published Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in which researchers looked at data on 17 K-12 schools in rural Wood County, Wisconsin, that were personally taught last year. They found lower Covid-19 cases than in the community at large, and few cases of transfer to school. Cohorts of 11 to 20 students of the same grade level soon met for classes and lunch, where students often sat next to the same person.

“Students in very small pods, classes of about 11 or 12, at a distance in a rural area – they can go to school safely,” Klain said, adding that “in such countries no such investments have been seen. “

Biden has also signed several executive actions to support the reopening goal and put in place a national strategy to get the coronavirus pandemic under control, but the measures do not stop schools from reopening within a set timeframe.

One executive order instructs the departments of education and health and human services to provide clues for reopening to schools with a focus on masking, testing and cleaning. A separate presidential memorandum provides reimbursement to schools for purchases of personal protective equipment by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s First Aid Fund.

“The education community, the teachers and the teams associated with education are such a critical part of society in general,” Fauci said Thursday. “But also a very critical part of our reaction to this outbreak – because we are not going to get back to normal until we get the children back in school.”

CNN’s Katie Lobosco contributed to this report.

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