CDC social distance rule change was not about keeping people safe, it was about a campaign promise

 The CDC changed its social distance guidelines, and I have no doubt the researchers found what they found. However, the reason they found it was more about keeping a campaign promise rather than keeping people safe.  

I like president Biden, but the only reason we are making this change is to keep his campaign promise to open more schools, and that with light finally at the end of the tunnel is inexcusable. 

The study sited has so many caveats you could drive a truck through it, and it is hardly representative of the country. They chose their set to study because they already had a conclusion they wanted to meet.  

This from the abstract,

Among 251 eligible school districts, 537,336 students and 99,390 staff attended in-person instruction during the 16-week study period, 

https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciab230/6167856

That might be impressive if it was from all across the country in districts big and small, rural and urban, but it wasn't. It was just from Massachusetts, and as you will see, it is only about half of this one state.

This is Massachuttes. 

954,773 students

The Massachusetts public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2013 Massachusetts had 954,773 students enrolled in a total of 1,854 schools in 404 school districts.

Another strange part is that it doesn't tell you if these students attend rural or urban schools, which makes a huge difference as urban locals because their population density was hit much harder by Covid than their rural counterparts. 

Then there are the caveats, it only applies to elementary schools, and it only applies if they wear their masks, all the time. Things that aren't always reported on or seen because many people don't read below the headline. 

In effect, they had a conclusion, and they did a study designed to find it.

This is so frustrating, not just because of its recklessness but also because we have light at the end of the tunnel with vaccinations. 90 percent of teachers said they would return if vaccinated, so why the %$@# don't we make that our priority instead of falling back on some dubious study? A study that will be used to bludgeon teachers back into schools.

The whole thing is dishonest and disingenuous and teachers who already give so much deserve better.

One last thing as far as I can tell, Biden's education policies have been basically the same as Trump's, and that is unacceptable.