Source: Associated Press
U.S. health officials on Thursday released some of their long-delayed guidance that schools, businesses and other organizations can use as states reopen from coronavirus shutdowns.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted six one-page “Decision tool” documents that use traffic signs and other graphics to tell organizations what they should consider before reopening.
The guidance was taken out after the White House raised concerns about the recommended restrictions, according to government emails obtained by the AP and a person inside the agency who didn’t have permission to talk with reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The CDC drafted the guidance more than a month ago and it was initially shelved by the Trump administration, The Associated Press reported last week.
The agency also had prepared even more extensive guidance – about 57 pages of it – that has not been posted.
Some health experts and politicians have been pushing for the CDC to release as much guidance as possible to help businesses and organizations decide how to proceed.
“They want to be able to tell their own employees the guidance of the federal government,” Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, said at a congressional hearing Wednesday.
The guidance relates to another document released by the Trump administration on April 17.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, on Wednesday offered a resolution – blocked by Republicans – to encourage release of all the documents.
“America needs and must have the candid guidance of our best scientists unfiltered, unedited, uncensored by president Trump or his political minions. The CDC report on reopening the country is an important piece of that guidance,” Schumer said.
Full Story @ Associated Press