CNN Medical Correspondent Torches Trump’s School Reopen Push: If I Were a Teacher With Heart Disease, I’d Be ‘Petrified’
CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen torched the federal government’s school re-opening plan after the White House Coronavirus Task Force held a briefing Wednesday afternoon. Cohen called their new protocols “confusing” and said, “If I were a teacher with hypertension or heart disease, I would be petrified.”
The task force’s meeting came hours after President Donald Trump said he disagreed with the CDC’s guidelines on re-opening schools, which he called “expensive” and “impractical.”
“I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools,” Trump tweeted. “While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!”
I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 8, 2020
In the task force briefing, Vice President Mike Pence defended Trump’s critique of the CDC plan while Dr. Deborah Birx admitted the Trump administration has no idea what the child virus transmission and infection rate is.
“This administration emphasized over-and-over again that states and localities should be able to basically do their own thing, make their own decisions,” Cohen said on CNN after the briefing. “Why in the world is the federal government telling Miami and Montana to do the same thing? … This is something Tony Fauci really is passionate about when I’ve spoken to him. The United States is a huge place. What’s going on in Miami could not be anymore different than what’s going on in Montana. Why are they giving this same demand.”
“What I did not hear at this briefing were solutions,” Cohen continued. “If I were the parent of a child with diabetes or asthma I would listen to this and throw up my hands and say, ‘What am I supposed to do?’ If I were a teacher with hypertension or heart disease, I would be petrified.”
Watch above, via CNN.
