Trump's Call for Eased School Opening Standards Sparks Next Week's Guideline Revision Announcement
Following May's Social Distancing Relaxation, Trump's Demands Accepted Again
New York Governor, Leading US Education District, Claims "Trump Has No Authority Over School Openings"
[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is fighting the war against the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), has once again yielded to pressure from President Donald Trump. The CDC has decided to change the quarantine guidelines related to school reopening, which President Trump claimed were "excessive."
The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 8th (local time) that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence announced at a briefing held after the White House COVID-19 Task Force (TF) meeting, "The CDC is scheduled to revise the COVID-19 response guidelines related to school reopening by next week."
Vice President Pence said, "We do not want overly strict reopening guidelines. The CDC will present new standards for reopening schools by next week." He added, "The time has come. It is time to allow children to return to school," and emphasized the importance of school reopening by saying, "It is absolutely necessary."
Pence’s remarks came after President Trump complained via Twitter that the CDC’s school reopening guidelines were too strict and costly. Regarding this, President Trump also added a warning in his tweet, saying, "If schools do not open, funding will be cut."
I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!
? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 8, 2020
President Trump has recently been making an all-out effort to reopen schools for the fall semester. This move is interpreted as an attempt to support the resumption of economic activities by reopening schools while rallying conservative forces ahead of the presidential election.
Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, also supported reopening. He emphasized that the CDC’s guidelines were created with the intention of maintaining normal school operations and should not be used to keep schools closed.
The CDC has faced criticism for easing strong social distancing guidelines in May, considering the White House’s dissatisfaction with restarting economic activities, and now it cannot avoid criticism again for moving according to the White House’s intentions.
The CDC guidelines previously suggested mandatory mask use upon reopening, maintaining a six-foot distance between desks, and installing physical barriers such as sneeze guards or partitions. According to the guidelines, school cafeterias should be closed, and students should eat lunch in classrooms. It is certain that these measures will be relaxed once the guidelines are revised.
The White House COVID-19 Task Force has also been criticized for focusing solely on measures to reopen schools, even as the number of new COVID-19 infections in the U.S. surpassed a record high of 60,000 the day before, rather than on disease prevention or containment.
The NYT criticized, "After President Trump threatened the CDC, the COVID-19 Task Force led by Vice President Pence implemented the CDC’s change in stance."
As President Trump pressured for reopening and the CDC announced plans to revise the guidelines, schools began to push back. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which decided on 100% online classes for the fall semester, filed lawsuits against the Trump administration’s policy restricting student visas.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo responded to President Trump’s reopening pressure by saying, "The authority to reopen schools lies with the state government, not the federal government," and added, "We will reopen schools once it is determined that they are safe." Governor Cuomo also dismissed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement that the city would conduct a hybrid of in-person and online classes in the fall semester, stating that it requires state government approval.
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