(Headline USA) Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten insisted this week that school mask mandates should not be lifted until a majority of students have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and transmission of the virus has been reduced to zero.
During an interview with MSNBC, Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, was asked about the decision made by several blue states to make masks in schools optional.
“At what point do we just say, ‘Okay, it’s time to get rid of the masks’?” asked host Willie Geis. “Isn’t there enough science available already?”
Weingarten responded: “The real question becomes, how can we make sure people can plan for it?”
“And what are the measures so everybody knows — so it doesn’t feel like it’s based upon politics, it feels like it’s based upon making sure there is no transmission in school?” she asked.
Teachers’ Union Boss Randi Weingarten says she will only support unmasking kids when there is ZERO COVID transmission. pic.twitter.com/MNk2dBwdzJ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 8, 2022
Unlike Weingarten, other Democrats are starting to pivot away from mask mandates and COVID restrictions. The governors of Connecticut, New Jersey, and Delaware all announced this week that they will end school mask mandates, and California and New York announced an end to their indoor mask mandates, though school mask mandates will still be in place.
However, the Biden administration is refusing to budge. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention DIrector Rochelle Walensky blasted government officials lifting COVID-19 restrictions, saying it is still the administration’s recommendation that mask mandates stay in place.
“I know people are interested in taking masks off. I too am interested,” she said.
“That would be one marker that we have much of the pandemic behind us,” Walenksy said. “Right now our CDC guidance has not changed … We continue to endorse universal masking in schools.”
