President Joe Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain publicly denied the science on COVID-19 transmission in schools, siding with teachers unions and against families and children on Tuesday in the fight to reopen for in-person learning.
Despite clear data and directives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health officials demonstrating it is safe to return to classrooms, unions of educators across the U.S. have delayed or even halted school districts’ plans to return to in-person learning because they claim the schools have not done enough to keep them protected from the virus.
Klain, however, does not see these unions’ demands as a problem or as science-denial.
“I don’t think unions are overruling studies,” Klain said on CNN. “I think what you’re seeing is schools that haven’t made the investments to keep the students safe.”
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is asked why teachers unions are keeping schools closed despite studies showing no evidence of transmission:
"I don’t think unions are overruling studies. You’re seeing schools that haven’t made the investments to keep students safe" pic.twitter.com/jliNXlrMPx
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 27, 2021
When pressed by the anchor who noted that COVID-19 transmission “is just not happening,” Klain doubled-down on his position.
“We haven’t seen those kinds of investments [to keep them safe]. President Biden has sent a plan to Congress that will make sure that a majority of our schools could be open within 100 days. We need Congress to pass that plan so we can do the kinds of things you need to do so that the schools can be safe, so that teachers can be safe, so students can be safe. Sadly, it costs money,” Klain said.
Teachers and students, Klain continued, want to be back in the classroom, but “we as a country should make the investments to make it safe.”
