Former Biden Covid Task Force Member Calls Virtual Learning ‘A Failure Across the Country’: ‘We Kept Kids Out Way Too Long’
Dr. Zeke Emanuel, the Vice Provost of Global Health Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania and a former member of the Biden transition team’s Covid task force, told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Sunday that virtual learning had been “a failure across the country.”
In the CNN Newsroom segment, Acosta noted the widely varying requirements across the country about whether schools should be open or virtual, and asked Emanuel what his advice for the Biden administration would be.
Emanuel commented that he agreed with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has publicly said that “kids need to be back in school” as she battles with the Chicago Teachers Union about reopening schools in the city.
“I agree with Mayor Lightfoot that kids have to be in school,” said Emanuel, “and we know that virtual learning did not work. It was a failure across the country and we kept kids out way too long.”
Emanuel said that what was necessary to make schools safer was “teachers have to be fully vaccinated and boosted,” and “children who can be vaccinated have to be vaccinated.” The FDA has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children as young as 5 years old.
The doctor also recommended high quality air purifiers and air filters, noting the “billions of dollars available from the federal government to improve and upgrade schools,” as well as wearing high-quality masks.
“We know” that virtual learning was “not very effective,” Emanuel reiterated, “so I think we have to prioritize in-person learning and put the safety measures we know work, to reduce transmission to work there.
“I do think that we have our priorities upside down when we’re seeing dining in restaurants, going to football games, going to basketball games, are more important than having schools open,” he concluded. “That just seems upside down in this country.”
“All right, hopefully we’ll get right-side up at some point,” said Acosta, thanking Emanuel for his time.
Watch the video above, via CNN.
