A Republican senator has fired off a letter to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, criticizing the agency's revised guidance on extracurricular activities for students.
The CDC recently updated its recommendations for K-12 schools due to the spike in coronavirus cases nationwide. The new guidelines suggest canceling "high-risk" activities or holding them virtually in "high transmission communities," which covers just about the entire country.
High-risk activities, according to the CDC, include "those in which increased exhalation occurs, such as activities that involve singing, shouting, band or exercise, especially when conducted indoors."
The CDC also issued updated recommendations for low or intermediate risk activities -- such as golf, baseball and track -- to include testing for COVID twice per week instead of just once.
On Wednesday, Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee sent a letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, blasting the policy as "misguided."
"This administration is using the guise of COVID-19 to take away freedoms, seemingly without any regard for the well-being of our nation's children," Blackburn wrote. "I am concerned that the Biden Administration's CDC guidance that encourages schools to shut down all in-person extracurricular activities like sports, choir, and band is misguided and puts American children's health and development at risk."
According to the CDC, 99.5% of counties in the U.S. are currently experiencing a high COVID transmission rate. This suggests, according to Blackburn, that the CDC believes almost every county in the U.S. should shut down high-risk after school activities including sports, choir and band.
"As a parent and grandparent of school aged children, it has been heartbreaking to watch their experience during the pandemic," she said. "Children need to play sports and develop their talents; not allowing them to do so is harmful to their mental health."
Blackburn included stats in her letter, such as a JAMA Pediatrics review of 36 studies which associated school closures and social lockdown with adverse mental health symptoms and behaviors including anxiety, depression, lower physical activity, food insecurity, and school disengagement. She also cited the CDC's own report that shows a major increase in suicide attempts among children and teens during the pandemic.
Banning students from playing sports of attending band practice will only harm children, Blackburn said.
"The Administration is more focused on pushing Critical Race Theory, and being a puppet for teachers' unions than doing what is best for our children's education – which is returning to normalcy. It is past time we learn to live with COVID-19, not in fear of it," she wrote. "Americans will not stand for President Biden controlling our children's ability to play sports or attend band practice."
The senator added that it's difficult for Americans to trust that CDC guidance is based on scientific evidence, "especially given the Biden administration's propensity for – and the CDC’s prior history of — bowing to teachers' unions."
"Prior to the February 2021 CDC announcement on school-reopening guidelines, emails indicate that some CDC language in school reopening guidelines was actually written by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)," she said.
Blackburn concluded her letter by requesting that Walensky provide specific scientific evidence that shows the cancelation of sports would reduce the spread of COVID. She also requested any communications the CDC had with outside groups that may have influenced the decision.
"Our children's health and well-being are on the line, and it is long past time for this administration to stop trying to micromanage the decisions Americans make about their own health," Blackburn said.
Walensky, who this week marked one year in her role as CDC director, has not issued a response to the letter.
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