WATCH: Teachers’ Union Prez Calls For ‘Universal Masking,’ Attacks DeSantis

Speaking on CNN on Monday morning, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called for universal masking, even though she admitted that breakthrough cases among people vaccinated for COVID are “still very rare.” Implicitly prompted by CNN’s Jim Sciutto to attack Florida GOP governor Ron DeSantis, who announced he wants parents, not schools, to make the decision about whether their children should be masked in schools, she said, “Teachers are very scared about this.”

Sciutto asked, “For folks at home, who want their children to go back to school, regardless of where they stand on masks personally, from your perspective, does requiring masks for students make it more likely that schools open and stay open?”

“So I would say this Jim: schools are going to be open,” Weingarten began. “I think last week we got thrown a curveball because of the Delta variant and of the new data that showed Provincetown, Massachusetts, that showed even if you’re vaccinated you can transmit. I think a lot of people took a deep breath and said, ‘Oh my God, what does this mean?’”

The New York Post reported on Sunday, “A study out of the UK released last week proved — once again — what we’ve known for more than a year: Kids transmit the coronavirus at a much lower rate than do adults. Epidemiologist Shamez Ladhani, who led the study, found that children ‘aren’t taking [the virus] home and then transferring it to the community. These kids have very little capacity to infect household members.’”

Last week, The New York Times tweeted, “Breaking News: The Delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and may be spread by vaccinated people as easily as the unvaccinated, an internal C.D.C. report said.”

The Deputy Director of Strategic Communications & Engagement for the White House slammed the Times in all caps on Twitter, acknowledging, “VACCINATED PEOPLE DO NOT TRANSMIT THE VIRUS AT THE SAME RATE AS UNVACCINATED PEOPLE AND IF YOU FAIL TO INCLUDE THAT CONTEXT YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG.”

VACCINATED PEOPLE DO NOT TRANSMIT THE VIRUS AT THE SAME RATE AS UNVACCINATED PEOPLE AND IF YOU FAIL TO INCLUDE THAT CONTEXT YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG. https://t.co/gBkDbJ21xX

— Ben Wakana (@benwakana46) July 30, 2021

“But I think the news you showed today from Axios and others that breakthrough cases are still very rare and if you get breakthrough cases when you’re vaccinated you’re not going to get nearly as sick, you’re not gonna die; schools will be open,” Weingarten admitted on CNN. “They need to be open; we need to make sure that they are safe and healthy. We’ve launched our $5 million campaign to do back to school for all. So let’s just be really clear about that.”

Sciutto acknowledged, “The data is for the vaccinated they’re very safe from hospitalization and death.” He reiterated Weingarten’s claim: “The reason for masks, right, is the vaccinated can still spread this, right?”

“Exactly,” Weingarten responded,

“I imagine you see the benefit of students masking going forward as the school year opens,” Sciutto stated.

“Exactly. Exactly,” Weingarten answered. ‘So that’s why the next question, about will they stay open, that’s where we worry, because when you have lots of kids, particularly every child under 12 has not been vaccinated.”

Sciutto, “Yeah.”

“We see the Delta variant being very transmissible,” Weingarten said. “And so that’s why what masks do, is mask stop transmission. So universal masking is going to be very helpful to keep kids safe. To keep the unvaccinated safe, and to keep schools open. Because you saw from some of your reporting already that you’re already seeing some quarantining in places that thought they were going to open today. So school opening is really important; we need to be in school; we need everybody to be safe; we need to focus on accelerated learning and we need to focus on the emotional and social well-being of kids. So that’s why I come down to where the APA and the CDC recommends, which is, as much as  — I’m asthmatic, I hate these things, but we have to wear them to keep us safe and to keep our kids in schools.”

Sciutto seized the opportunity to continue the media’s attacks on DeSantis: “The vaccination rate among teachers is quite high, I believe your team was telling us about 90%. How are teachers reacting to this, particularly in communities where, a place like Florida, right, where they’re allowing choice, in effect, they’re allowing parents to decide as opposed to school districts.”

“So I was in Florida on Saturday, and by the way, Saturday Florida had, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, I don’t remember exactly, it had the highest level of cases of COVID, I think, ever, and so teachers are very scared about this,” Weingarten claimed. “I was with two groups of teachers on Saturday, one in Jacksonville, one in Polk County, again, we’re very serious about reopening schools, safe and welcoming environments for all. All educators want that. But they’re scared that we’re not going to be able to keep everybody safe. And they want us to have masking.”

What Weingarten and Sciutto ignore is that COVID spreads more successfully when people are inside; in the heat of the Florida summer, more people are inside in the air conditioning. While Weingarten and Sciutto targeted Florida, they ignored the leftist haven California. As The New York Times noted on Sunday: “Covid-19 is surging once more, at Saint John’s and in the world around it, driven by vaccine resisters and the virus’s hyper-contagious Delta variant. In California, new infections are appearing at a rate not seen since February.”

AFT’s @rweingarten says “universal masking” is needed to keep schools open:

“We see the Delta variant be very transmissible. And so that’s why what masks do is masks stop transmission. So universal masking is going to be very helpful to keep kids safe.” pic.twitter.com/mjH0Fg9IPB

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 2, 2021

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