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Sunday, December 22, 2024

'It is important for everyone to stay safe' Georgia teachers union on board with changed CDC mask requirements in schools

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Savannah Federation of Teachers supported CDC mask guidelines, citing safety for all. | Pixabay/Alexandra_Koch

Savannah Federation of Teachers supported CDC mask guidelines, citing safety for all. | Pixabay/Alexandra_Koch

A Georgia teacher's union appears to be on board with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 guidelines that suggest everyone, vaccinated or not, to wear a mask in schools, which were changed after the National Education Association (NEA) criticized the CDC over some of its mask guidelines.

Theresa L. Watson, president of the Savannah Federation of Teachers, said "it is important for everyone to stay safe" during the school year.

"The CDC recommends continuing to wear a mask in public indoor settings for 14 days or until you receive a negative test result," Watson told the Peach Tree Times. "This is a change because before, the guidance said that fully vaccinated people did not need to be tested in the case of known exposure unless they became symptomatic."

Watson said the Savannah Federation of Teachers has been actively passing along information about COVID-19 guidelines for schools to its members and communities in which they teach in an effort to separate "facts from misinformation."

"Having the correct information will help our members and the community live a health life," she said.

According to a report by Fox News, the National Education Association (NEA) may have impacted the CDC's guidelines for schools. Emails obtained by watchdog group Americans for Public Trust through the Freedom of Information Act showed the union threatened to release jarring criticism of the agency prior to the guidelines being released, Fox reported.

"This batch of emails came just weeks after we already exposed the teachers unions influenced the CDC on school openings," Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, told Fox News. "Lo and behold, less than two weeks later they're at it again, but this time in retaliation to mask guidance."

According to the report, the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people did not need to wear a mask on May 13, but did not specify the impact it would have on school guidelines. Shortly after that announcement the NEA started communicating with White House officials through email and agreed not to release a critical statement since officials promised to suggest even the vaccinated wear masks in schools. 

Following the release of the agency's school guidelines, Becky Pringle, NEA president, released a statement that complimented the agency. It read, in part, "including the mandatory and correct use of wearing masks and continuing of social distancing, is an important and welcoming clarification about the protections that need to be in place in our schools."

A study published in Nature Magazine found that COVID-19 rarely poses danger of death or severe disease to children. The studies did not evaluate rates of less-severe illness or debilitating "long COVID" symptoms that can linger months after the acute phase of the infection, the Nature Magazine article said. 

“The low rate of severe acute disease is important news, but this does not have to mean that COVID does not matter to children,” pediatrician Danilo Buonsenso of the Gemelli University Hospital in Rome told Nature Magazine. “Please, let’s keep attention — as much as is feasible — on immunization.”

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