Rochelle Walensky, the new U.S. CDC director.
On Thursday, Feb. 18, Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins University health policy expert, spoke on Fox News. Marty Makary, MD, a health policy expert at Hopkins University, said in an op-ed on FoxNews.com that the CDC’s new School (Preparedness) Guidelines, which came out last week, are not based on science and create more barriers to reopening schools. She suggested that school board members, Parents and local government leaders look for ways to reopen schools.
Dr. Makary said the CDC claims the new guidelines for reopening schools are scientific. But in fact, “this new, science-defying guideline is too extreme in its requirements for CCP virus testing and social distance. The vast majority of schools in the U.S. are currently unable (to meet their standards) for face-to-face learning.”
Three weeks ago, the CDC’s top scientist published a review of the latest scientific research on the CCP virus and schools in the U.S. and around the world in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association and concluded, “There is little evidence that schools increase the spread of the CCP virus in communities.”
The CDC, however, is deciding whether schools can reopen based on the number of CCP virus infections in the community. For example, if the community has a high rate of CCP virus transmission, the CDC is requiring that students and teachers will need to be tested for the CCP virus on a weekly basis. This is not easy to implement for many school systems.
In fact, according to a recent study by Dr. Makary in collaboration with colleagues at West Health and Fair Health, not a single child without an underlying health problem (i.e., no chronic illness) died from the CCA virus. The study was based on a survey of half of all health insurance statistics in the United States. If we really follow the science, that science tells us that more children die when schools are closed than when they are open.
Throughout the CCP pandemic, many private schools conducted face-to-face learning, resulting in a wealth of data on the safety of open schools. In a study of North Carolina school districts, it was found that out of 90,000 students, there was not a single case of transmission from student to teacher. At this point it is further clear whether this is settled science or a purely political issue.
Most worrisome is that the CDC’s new guidelines are dismissive of the harm caused by continued school closures. For example, Dr. Joseph Allen of Harvard University and Dr. Helen Jenkins of Boston University estimate that children are ten times more likely to die by suicide (after school closures) than by death from infection with the CDC virus. That’s why officials in Clark County, Nevada, reopened schools after 18 child suicides occurred during the CCP virus pandemic shutdown.
“When we started seeing an upward trend in child suicides, we knew we couldn’t just focus on the numbers related to the CCP virus,” Clark County Superintendent of Schools Jesus Jara told the New York Times.
Some researchers have now found that drug abuse among teens also increased during the CCP virus pandemic. Experts say the lockdown also led to an increase in domestic violence against young people, including sexual abuse.
In addition, school closures have exacerbated the problem of feeding children. Millions of children who depend on school meals are denied free Food when schools are closed. That’s why the medical community has reached a consensus on restarting face-to-face teaching, just as it has with smoking cessation.
Dr. Makary believes that for the wealthy and powerful who work remotely from their mansions, these may not be much of a problem. But in downtown Baltimore, closed schools can have serious consequences for children’s health.
Then CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky had said, “There is a growing body of data that shows that schools can be safely reopened. And reopening safely does not mean that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to implement it.”
But the Biden administration, which has always stated that it is actively listening to scientists, quickly drew a line in the sand with Dr. Walensky. The White House said the CDC director’s words represented her “in her personal capacity,” but that she had actually headed the infectious disease unit at Harvard University’s Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Macari said many believe that the Biden Administration is calling for the opening of schools externally, but in fact is subtly compromising the teachers’ unions behind the scenes by delaying the reopening of schools. One of these delaying tactics may be to ask the CDC, which is notorious for being slow, to develop new guidelines for opening schools, even though the CDC developed new school opening guidelines only last September.
In addition, many experts have been calling for a recommended 3-foot social distance instead of the 6 feet designed for adults. This subtle change could mean doubling the number of children in classrooms.
The CDC’s new school reopening guidelines are correct in some respects, such as its recommendation for masks and diligent hand washing, but this was already in the CDC’s school guidelines in September.
Dr. Makary emphasized that all children should wear masks when they are indoors and that school ventilation systems should be optimized, a strategy he has been calling for since last spring.
Dr. Makary strongly recommends that school board members, parents and local government leaders reopen schools quickly through universal masks, 3-foot social distances and good ventilation systems. And these precautions still make pilots, flight attendants and airline passengers more than a million times safer. This is despite the fact that they have smaller spaces, higher crowd densities, no viral testing requirements, and a higher risk of infection than children.
Dr. Makary also recommends that local schools skip the most restrictive parts of the CDC guidelines if they cannot fully implement them for face-to-face instruction. “The CDC guidance is advisory only, and schools and local governments are not obligated to follow it.”
That’s why the new guidelines have been applauded by some teachers’ unions, Dr. Makary noted. “As the number of people naturally immunized and vaccinated increases, by the Time the infrastructure of the CDC guidelines can be implemented, the number of CCA virus infections will probably be at very low levels.” She believes that bureaucracy and special interests will succeed in preventing children from receiving face-to-face instruction throughout the CCP virus pandemic.
Studies show that children are at the lowest risk of developing the CCP virus and are the least likely to transmit it, yet they are turned away from schools and denied the right to seek Education. In contrast, adults have a higher risk of death and transmission (than children), yet the CDC allows them to sit shoulder-to-shoulder on airplanes for hours or go to restaurants, casinos and bowling alleys.
Dr. Makary concluded that there is no scientific reason to rank schooling last for children who are at the least risk. “It’s totally ageist because kids can’t speak up (for themselves).”
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