Biden senior adviser Cedric Richmond said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the Biden administration is on schedule for U.S. schools reopen for in-person learning by April.
Partial transcript as follows:
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to start on COVID. This new strain that was first detected in the U.K., B117, led that country to shut down its schools. This week Dr. Fauci said opening US schools may not happen due to mitigating circumstances. Is President Biden still vowing to open American schools by April?
RICHMOND: Well, yes. And the key to it is making sure that we pass the American rescue plan so that we provide the school systems and local municipalities the ability to open schools safely. And we think that if we invest in the resources to make it safe, schools should reopen.
BRENNAN: But that likely wouldn’t even happen until March at the earliest. Tell me about the plans right now, what you can do now. Should the federal government make it a priority to vaccinate teachers or instruct governors to push them towards the head of the line as essential workers?
RICHMOND: Look, I think you see us doing everything humanly possible to make sure we ramp up vaccinations. We’re delivering another 1.6 million to the states every week. So we bumped up to order. We just purchased another 200 million vaccinations so that we can vaccinate the whole 300 million adults that we need to do. And so we’re going to keep pushing. We’re going to keep sending vaccines to the states and asking the states to hurry up and make sure that they get them all out. But our plan and why we need to pass the American Rescue Plan is to make sure that we give the school systems the ability to buy the masks, the ventilation systems, all of those things that’s needed to open up.
BRENNAN: But as you know, I mean, that fight is happening right now in cities like Chicago. We’ll be talking to their superintendent later on in the program. And Michael Bloomberg, former presidential rival to- to President Biden, argued in an op-ed this week that the president could be doing more. He could use his bully pul- pulpit, excuse me, to give political cover to fellow Democrats. He could tell the unions, yes, I understand how we need to prioritize teachers here and actually take measures to do it. Why isn’t the president doing more to help out some of these fellow Democrats?
RICHMOND: I think the president is doing a lot. He just introduced a $1.9 trillion plan to make sure that it is a whole community approach to fighting,–
BRENNAN: But they need help right now. They’re opening schools Monday.
RICHMOND: –of vaccinations. Well, that’s an issue in Chicago that both sides are dealing with. I know they’re both at the table. Teachers are concerned about their health and making sure that they could teach in a safe environment. And if you look at the CDC study, the CDC study that just came out said with the proper investments, with the proper spacing and class sizes, schools could reopen safely. But another key aspect of that CDC study is that they didn’t test all the students and teachers. They just tested people who were symptomatic. And the class sizes in that population was in between 10 and 20 students in a class. So, look, we are very serious about making sure that we pass a plan that gives us a comprehensive approach to COVID, which means small business with help, help to our citizens. And so, look, we want kids back in school. No doubt about it. But we want it to be safe for the students, the teachers and the families of both students and teachers.
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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