Robert Redfield, who leads the CDC and runs on a constant line, is often unsuccessful, under intense pressure from Trump, stressing that the new guidelines should not slow down Trump’s push to reopen all schools within weeks.

“I want to make it very clear that what is not the intention of the CDC guidelines is to be used as an excuse to keep schools closed,” Redfield said, promising to work with schools and officials to propose an optimal and safe opening plan.

“Personally it will be very disappointing for me, and, I know, my agent, if we see that individuals use these guidelines as an excuse not to reopen our school.”

His comments came a day after Trump demanded that all schools be reopened in the fall, then the President was confused when asked how this could be achieved safely given the deteriorating conditions.

And they ask this question: What is the use of the CDC guidelines if conditions are so loose that they are mostly meaningless or cannot be used as an excuse to close schools if basic safety recommendations are not met?

The fate of American children

In addition to the difficulties millions of Americans expelled from work by stopping are introduced to stem the spread of the virus, the need to bring children back to school is perhaps the most important task facing the government. The prospect of losing critical years of learning, coupled with the psychological and emotional effects of being stuck at home, has a painful effect on the nation’s children.

And parents cannot commit to returning to work, in many cases, before their children can return to class, further hampering hopes of economic recovery.

But no one has been authorized to explain how the full-time school that Trump demands is possible given the need for social distance in crowded school buildings and risks for teachers, who are far more susceptible to Covid-19 complications than their students.

The president – who seems to have no obligation to lead other than to vote aggressively – also ignores the fact that children can bring the virus home to more vulnerable parents and grandparents, a factor that can lead to new outbreaks of disease in America. fall down.

Dr. Ashish Jha, faculty director at Harvard’s Global Health Institute, warned that the CDC guidelines had become a minimum requirement for opening schools and warned of long-term educational disasters if the opening was not planned well.

“I think the CDC’s recommendations are really basic and, in fact, I think they need to go further. Look, you can open a school wherever you want. That’s really not a debate,” Jha told CNN’s “The Lead. ” “The question is can you keep the school open? Can you prevent a massive outbreak between teachers and staff and children? And if we don’t do what the CDC asks, and more, the schools will it is closed by Columbus Day and they will be closed for a long time. That is what we must avoid, and we don’t. We cannot bluff through this; we must let science move it. “

The school controversy recalls Trump’s demands to open the country

The building controversy over the CDC’s school closure guidelines began to recall health agency guidelines compiled this spring to ensure the safe opening of the country’s economy – which many governors ignored at the urging of a desperate president to revive his election. hope.

This is also a reminder of Trump’s position on wearing masks, weeks after he announced new CDC guidelines asking Americans to wear face masks in public places where they cannot get social distance – then immediately cut off suggestions by saying he himself would not do it.

Pence’s quick accommodation of Trump’s complaint on Wednesday was important, because the President did not provide logical or scientific arguments for his opposition to the CDC’s guidelines. He only said the agent asked the school to do “impractical things” – steps that would no doubt contradict his request to open the school no matter what.

Anthony Fauci, the government’s top contagious disease expert, who Trump reprimanded this week for a round of truth-telling about the worsening situation in the interview, was not present at the briefing.

Another key member of the task force, Dr. Deborah Birx, present. He said he saw “encouraging” signs in hot-spot states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona, for example citing a decrease in positive levels in test results. But Birx added that countries that had problems had to return to the first phase of their opening plan, a statement that made him at odds with Trump’s warning that America must continue to open the economy.

CDC officials told CNN in recent months that they felt “muzzled” because their suggestions had been ignored by the White House who were more concerned about the President’s political requirements than coordinated efforts to reduce the virus.

Early in the pandemic, the agency got Trump’s anger by ruining the initial coronavirus testing plan. A high official, Nancy Messonnier, warned Americans in February that disruptions to daily life might be “severe” – contrary to the first of Trump’s many inaccurate remarks that they have nothing to worry about.

In May, the White House refused to implement the 17-page CDC plan on the safe reopening of the country that contained detailed recommendations for churches and schools when the President demanded a speedy opening.

The White House has denied disconnecting with the CDC

Despite the apparent dispute between the President and his health experts, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany denied there was tension between Trump and the CDC.

“I will note that the CDC is very much on the same page as the President, which is why you heard the CDC director today underlines that this is not prescriptive, this is not a requirement and that there will be additional guidelines. So they are on the same page,” he said.

But McEnany also stated that the President – who first denied the virus would be a problem, then mismanaged, then pushed the country to open up in a way that caused a spike in infection and which now wants to ignore it again – made a final decision on how the pandemic response came out.

“It is up to him to determine what to do with that information, to take what we hear from Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx and others, take what he values ​​in their opinion and arrive at the final best consensus for this country,” he says.

When asked specifically about Fauci, McEnany said Trump remained confident “at the conclusion of our medical experts,” even though veteran officials rarely appeared on the President’s side again and had made varnished statements about the situation which denied Trump’s false portrayal of the virus. on a retreat.

“What we are seeing is exponential growth. From an average of around 20,000 to 40,000 and 50,000. That’s multiplying,” Fauci said on Wednesday in “The Journal,” a podcast produced for the Wall Street Journal. His comments followed the President’s statement Tuesday that the US was “in a good place” right before coronavirus cases in the US reached 3 million.

Fauci also said countries with serious problems had to “seriously look at closure” and that while the 39 million test numbers praised earlier by Pence looked impressive, the real question was whether strong testing and tracing operations existed.

Trump points out his misunderstanding or ignorance of the difficulties many Americans face when he complains that in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries “SCHOOLS OPEN WITHOUT PROBLEMS.”

His Tweet ignores the fact that these countries have pressed their coronavirus curves by various methods, while the US is on the Covid-19 trajectory which is rising sharply.

That is another reminder that Trump’s goal is to secure a return to normal life as soon as possible, in schools, in the economy and even in sports, but he is prepared to do little to create an environment where such goals can be safely achieved.