President Joe Biden on Sunday said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could lay out requirements for schools to reopen as soon as Wednesday, an announcement that comes amid a national debate on when and how to reopen schools safely.
"I think it's time for schools to reopen safely," Biden said in an interview with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell that aired ahead of Super Bowl LV.
"You have to have fewer people in the classroom, you have to have ventilation systems that have been reworked. Our CDC commissioner is going to be coming out with science-based judgment within, I think, as early as Wednesday, as to what the minimum requirements are."
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky last week said there was increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen without requiring that teachers be vaccinated.
"There are several mitigating factors that we've seen in data to date that will help make it safe," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a White House briefing.
"Of course, vaccines are part of that, but so is masking, so is social distancing, so is ensuring that schools have the ventilation and the facilities that they need in order to do it safely."
Some teachers' unions are pushing back against reopening some schools over fears of teachers getting infected with COVID-19.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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