It should be noted that high schools in Sweden are currently remote only, Many K-8 schools are closed by region & city currently based on COVID level -- as outlined in the thread about Sweden. These schools are closed until April 1st.
Here are more details about the CDC directors comments. The "narratives are changing" . Many teachers are not happy with Biden administration and Democrats at the moment. Teachers believe that Democrats are throwing them under the bus as mere fodder for a political agenda. This being said... Europe has demonstrated you can safely re-open K-12 schools with the big caveat being that COVID community spread levels must be low in order to be successful. Nearly no county in the U.S. currently has a positive test rate level of below 5% which is the threshold to safely re-open schools according to European countries and our own government's previous statements. CDC director says schools can safely reopen without vaccinating teachers https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/03/cdc...fely-reopen-without-vaccinating-teachers.html Teachers do not need to get vaccinated against Covid-19 before schools can safely reopen, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. School systems across the U.S. have been under pressure to reopen after shifting to remote learning last year due to the pandemic. Teachers and other faculty have expressed concerns about returning to school, potentially putting their health at risk. Teachers do not need to get vaccinated against Covid-19 before schools can safely reopen, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. “There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters during a White House news briefing on Covid-19. “Vaccinations of teachers is not a prerequisite for safely reopening schools,” she added. During a press briefing later Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki walked back Walensky’s comments, saying that they were not “official guidance” from the CDC. If Walensky were here, she would say “that they have not released their official guidance from the CDC yet on the vaccination of teachers and what would be needed to ensure the safe reopening of schools,” Psaki said. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to put “frontline essential workers,” which include teachers, next in line to receive a Covid-19 vaccine after first prioritizing health-care workers and long-term care facility residents. However, it may take a while for most teachers to get their shots as U.S. officials work to pick up the pace of vaccinations. Still, school systems across the U.S. have been under pressure to reopen after shifting to remote learning last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 26.4 million Americans and killed at least 447,077 in a little over a year. Some parents have been forced to stay at home to watch their children instead of going to work. Meanwhile, teachers and other faculty have expressed concerns about returning to school, potentially putting their health at risk. A study from the CDC published late last month found little evidence of the virus spreading at schools in the U.S. and abroad when precautions were taken, such as wearing masks, social distancing and ventilating rooms. The Biden administration has released a Covid rescue plan that includes providing schools and universities with $170 billion to reopen. The money would be used in part to scale up testing. The administration has said testing is a “critical” strategy for controlling the spread of the virus, but added tests are still not widely available, and the U.S. is still not using the ones it has effectively. Walensky has previously said that schools should be the first to open and the last to close in the pandemic. Jeff Zients, President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 czar, said Wednesday that Biden has been “very clear” that he wants schools to “reopen and to stay open.” “That means every school has the equipment and the resources to open safely,” he said during the news briefing, urging Congress to “do its part” by passing Biden’s Covid rescue plan. “Not just private schools or schools in wealthy areas but all schools.”
It has been this way since January when the COVID levels in communities were too high to continue with in-building classes. It should be noted that most European countries were very successful with keeping K-12 schools open for fall semester. Most had to go remote when the local community COVID levels spiked to high levels in December -- which made holding in-building classes unsafe. However European K-12 schools followed very strict guidelines for social distancing, cleaning, and masks. Most U.S. schools do not follow the guidelines used in Europe (or outlined in the earlier 68+ page CDC school COVID safety document rejected by Trump for being "too tough".)
Well, January was only last week. This has been going on for almost a year now. And the important part about that tweet was the study.