Strong Evidence In-Person Schooling Can Be Done Safely
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Amazing Azure Saturday February 13, 2021 T: 582-7800 www.arubatoday.com facebook.com/arubatoday instagram.com/arubatoday Page 10 Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper CDC: Strong evidence in-person schooling can be done safely In this Feb. 2, 2021, file photo, students wear masks as they work in a fourth-grade classroom, at Elk Ridge Elementary School in Buckley, Wash. Associated Press Associated Press masks, social distancing and oth- The Centers for Disease Control middle of a pandemic that has The nation’s top public health er strategies, and vaccination of and Prevention released its long- killed more than 479,000 people in agency said Friday that in-person teachers, while important, is not a awaited road map for getting stu- the U.S. schooling can resume safely with prerequisite for reopening. dents back to classrooms in the Continued on Page 2 A2 SATURDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2021 UP FRONT CDC: Strong evidence in-person schooling can be done safely Continued from Front ing adults and children in to schools. The guidance But the agency’s guidance included a color-coded is just that — it cannot force chart, from blue to red, schools to reopen, and on assessing community CDC officials were careful spread, including rates to say they are not calling of new cases per 100,000 for a mandate that all U.S. people and the percent- schools be reopened. age of positive tests. That Officials said there is strong said, high community trans- evidence now that schools mission does not necessar- can reopen, especially at ily mean schools cannot be lower grade levels. open — especially those The new guidance includes at the elementary level. If many of the same mea- school mitigation measures sures previously backed by are strictly followed, the risk the CDC, but it suggests of spread in the schools them more forcefully. It should still be low, the guid- emphasizes that all of the ance suggests. recommendations must The document suggests be implemented strictly that when things get risky, and consistently to keep elementary schools can go school safe. It also provides hybrid, providing in-person more detailed suggestions instruction at least on some about what type of school- In this Dec. 7, 2020, file photo, students enter P.S. 134 Henrietta Szold Elementary School in New days, but that middle and York. ing should be offered giv- Associated Press high schools might go vir- en different levels of virus tual. transmission, with differing more emphatic than past provide “an additional lay- including students and “The older children get advice for elementary, guidance on the need to er of protection,” she said. parents, have known for ... the more they act like middle and high schools. wear masks in school. The guidance was issued months: It is critical for adults in terms of transmis- Recommended measures “We know that most clus- as President Joe Biden schools to open as safely sion and disease,” Walen- include hand washing, ters in the school setting faces increasing pressure and as soon as possible,” sky explained. “So when disinfection of school fa- have occurred when there to deliver on his promise to he said. we are in areas of high cilities, diagnostic testing are breaches in mask wear- get the majority of schools Becky Pringle, president of transmission, we have and contact tracing to find ing,” Dr. Rochelle Walen- back to in-person teaching the National Education As- pushed more for elemen- new infections and sepa- sky, the CDC’s director, by the end of his first 100 sociation, applauded the tary school hybrid learning. rate infected people from said in a call with reporters. days in office. The White guidance but said schools Government officials es- others in a school. It’s also Vaccinating teachers can House said this week that a are failing to meet it. Most timate that about 60% of national strategy would be still have outdated ventila- K-12 schools right now have guided by science. tion systems, she said, and some form of in-person “We’ve used stronger lan- few have the type of virus learning going on, though guages than prior guid- testing programs suggest- in many cases it may be ance. We’ve been much ed by the CDC. part-time. more prescriptive here as “CDC standards still aren’t Schools also can tighten up to putting some guardrails being met in too many of restrictions for the in-person on what can and should our schools,” Pringle said. learning that is going on. be done to get to a safe “We can and must provide For example, the CDC con- reopening,” Walensky said. students the opportunity to tinues to recommend that “And I can assure you that return to in-person learning, children be spaced 6 feet this is free from political but we also must ensure apart in school settings. meddling,” she added. that every school has the But it should be required There’s wide agreement safety measures in place to when there’s a worrisome that learning in the class- keep students and educa- surge of new infections in room is more effective and tors safe.” the community, said Gre- that students can face CDC officials emphasized ta Massetti, a CDC official isolation and learning set- that in-person learning has who led much of the work backs at home. But teach- not been identified as a on the new guidance. ers unions in some areas substantial driver of coro- Unlike former President say schools have failed navirus spread in U.S. com- Donald Trump, who pres- to make buildings safe munities, and that transmis- sured schools to open and enough to return. sion among students is now blasted the CDC for issu- The new guidance was considered relatively rare. ing guidance that he said embraced by both sides of The CDC also stressed that was impractical, Biden has the debate, with each say- the safest way to open kept his distance from the ing it bolstered their posi- schools is by making sure CDC as it works on recom- tion. House Minority Leader there is as little disease in mendations. Even after the Kevin McCarthy said it’s fur- a community as possible. CDC’s director recently ther evidence that schools The agency urged local of- said that vaccinations are are equipped to reopen ficials to assess whether a not a prerequisite for re- now. bad outbreak is occurring opening, the White House The new information “af- in a community when mak- declined to take a firm firms what many of us, ing decisions about send- stance on the question.q A3 U.S. NEWS SATURDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2021 Biden will try to close Guantanamo after ‘robust’ review By BEN FOX enemies and a distraction Associated Press for our allies” and said he WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi- supported closing it but left dent Joe Biden will seek to it to his successor. close the prison on the U.S. Under Bush, the U.S. began base at Guantanamo Bay efforts to prosecute some following a review process, prisoners for war crimes in resuming a project begun tribunals known as military under the Obama admin- commissions. It also re- istration, the White House leased 532 prisoners. said Friday. Obama vowed to close White House press secre- the detention center, while tary Jen Psaki said it was the keeping the larger Navy “intention” of the Biden ad- base, but ran into fierce po- ministration to close the de- litical opposition over plans tention facility, something to prosecute and imprison President Barack Obama men in the U.S. and con- pledged to do within a cerns that returning others year shortly after he took to their homeland would office in January 2009. pose a security risk. Psaki gave no timeline, To some extent at least, telling reporters that the that opposition remains. formal review would be “The Democrats’ obsession “robust” and would re- In this photo reviewed by U.S. military officials, the Office of Military Commissions building used for with bringing terrorists into quire the participation of Periodic Review Board hearings is seen, Thursday, April 18, 2019, in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Americans’ backyards is bi- Cuba. officials from the Depart- Associated Press zarre, misguided, and dan- ment of Defense, the Jus- gerous,” Sen. John Cornyn, tice Department and other 40 prisoners left and Guan- pected. Biden had said as at Guantanamo include a Republican from Texas, agencies who have not yet tanamo draws much less a candidate he support- five who were previously said after the White House been appointed under the public attention, though his ed closing the detention cleared for release through announcement Friday. new administration. announcement did draw center. Defense Secretary an intensive review process “Just like with President “There are many players some immediate criticism. Lloyd Austin said so as well created under Obama as Obama, Republicans will from different agencies The U.S. opened the de- in written testimony for his part of the effort to close fight it tooth and nail.” who need to be part of this tention center in January Senate confirmation. the detention center and Under his administration, policy discussion about the 2002 to hold people sus- “Guantanamo has pro- transfer the remaining pris- 197 were repatriated or re- steps forward,” she said. pected of ties to al-Qaida vided us the capability to oners to facilities in the U.S. settled in other countries. Obama ran into intense and the Taliban. It became conduct law of war deten- At its peak in 2003, the de- That left 41 under Trump, domestic political oppo- a source of international tion in order to keep our tention center at the Navy who pledged at one point sition when he sought to criticism over the mistreat- enemies off the battlefield, base on the southeast tip to “load it up” with some close the detention center, ment of prisoners and the but I believe it is time for the of Cuba held nearly 680 “bad dudes.” He never did a notorious symbol of the prolonged imprisonment of detention facility at Guan- prisoners.