Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, said the “real issue” when it comes to coronavirus restrictions, including masking children, is making sure people “feel” safe — not the actual science.
“The issue becomes how do we make sure the entire community in a school feels safe and welcome,” she said during an appearance on MSNBC, agreeing that it is time to discuss an “off-ramp for masks” in schools. Weingarten said:
And I don’t think that we — when you get to COVID, there’s no no-risk. The real issue becomes how do we make sure that everybody feels safe. So if we don’t have mask mandate in school, we’ve got to make sure that kids and teachers are not stigmatized for wearing masks, and we better do everything we can to make sure the ventilation is working in classrooms so that there’s fresh air and that we’re doing everything in our power to make sure that this virus is not transmissible.
Her remarks come as blue state leaders begin to lift mask mandates in schools, following the lead of Florida — which has fought against forced masking of children in schools for months. The Democrat governors of New Jersey, Connecticut, and Delaware made announcements this week, previewing their intentions to lift mask mandates on school children. However, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) blasted the leftists during a press conference on Tuesday, noting that they were only having these “epiphanies” because it is now politically expedient for them to lift restrictions.
“So when you start to see them kind of reevaluate or say all this, just understand this. The science didn’t change. The medical science didn’t change. The political science changed. They feel the heat,” he said.
“They know that voters have been tired of perpetual lockdown policies. They know that they have basically offered no offramp and they know that they’re fixing to be whooped at the polls, so that’s causing the epiphany,” he added.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.