Not long after President Biden took the oath of office on Wednesday, he jumped into the task of mobilizing resources to deal with the covid-19 pandemic that is killing thousands of Americans each day and to safely reopen schools.
Biden on Thursday unveiled his nearly 200-page plan — called the “National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness” — which spells out goals for overcoming the pandemic. It includes a discussion on his goals for bringing students back to schools for in-person learning.
The new president also signed an executive order giving direction to the secretaries of education and health and human services to work together to develop “evidence-based guidance to assist states and elementary and secondary schools in deciding whether and how to reopen, and how to remain open, for in-person learning; and in safely conducting in-person learning, including by implementing mitigation measures such as cleaning, masking, proper ventilation, and testing.”
The strategy is the opposite of the former Trump administration and its education secretary, Betsy DeVos, who did not give federal assistance to states in deciding how and when to reopen schools.
Here’s the executive order:
And here’s the administration’s complete report on how to attack the pandemic, with a section on reopening schools. You can find it starting on Page 77.
Biden Pandemic Plan by The Washington Post
