The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is urging educators to teach their students an “important lesson” of getting tested regularly for the Chinese coronavirus.
“Educators, you can teach your students an important lesson: Getting regularly tested for #COVID19 can help keep your school safe,” the federal health agency wrote in a social media post as schools across the country begin their fall semesters:
The CDC links to its guide for school testing, promoting regular testing in schools across the country. An update at the top of the page urges teachers, staff, and students to mask up regardless of vaccination status.
“Children should return to full-time in-person learning in the fall with layered prevention strategies in place,” it reads.
The CDC also issued a message to parents, urging them to sign their children up for regular coronavirus testing if it is offered by their schools.
“Parents: If your school is offering regular #COVID19 testing, sign your kids up,” the CDC said:
As Breitbart News reported, the CDC reversed its position on universal masking in school over the summer, citing the dominance of the delta variant. It initially suggested that only the unvaccinated would need to mask up.
The CDC’s updated guide for returning to school reads in part:
Due to the circulating and highly contagious Delta variant, CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all students (age 2 and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.
In addition to universal indoor masking, CDC recommends schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms to reduce transmission risk. When it is not possible to maintain a physical distance of at least 3 feet, such as when schools cannot fully re-open while maintaining these distances, it is especially important to layer multiple other prevention strategies, such as screening testing.
Notably, the overall survival rate for the virus is estimated to be over 98.2 percent and even higher among children.
The CDC’s call for regular testing for children comes as the coronavirus cases in the U.S. increase exponentially from last Labor Day weekend, despite the prevalence of vaccines.