The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has deleted a disputed document it posted this summer to support President Trump’s hard push to reopen school buildings this fall.
The agency withdrew two school reopening documents last month with no notice or calls for public comment, after acknowledging that some statements it made in July were outdated, according to a congressional subcommittee that launched an investigation into the agency’s summer guidance.
One document in particular, titled “The Importance of Reopening America’s Schools this Fall,” proved particularly contentious because it struck many as reading more like a political speech than a scientific report.
The document contained statements that echoed Mr. Trump’s emphasis on the benefits of returning to in-person learning while downplaying the potential risks the virus carried for children and teachers. It was issued two weeks after Mr. Trump railed against the agency’s school guidance as “very tough and expensive” and threatened to withhold funding from schools that did not offer in-person classes.
“Reopening schools creates opportunity to invest in the education, well-being, and future of one of America’s greatest assets — our children — while taking every precaution to protect students, teachers, staff and all their families,” the document concluded.
A House panel, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis called on the C.D.C. to rescind the documents and other statements after a New York Times investigation published in September found that they has been heavily influenced by White House officials and issued over the protests of C.D.C. scientists.
“I am pleased that, in response to this request, C.D.C. has now removed two guidance documents unsupported by science,” the committee chairman, Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, said in a statement. “With infections rising dramatically across the country, it is critical that schools, teachers and families have accurate, trustworthy public health information on the coronavirus.”
The withdrawal of the July statements was first reported by The Hill. The C.D.C. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month, the C.D.C.’s deputy incident manager for the Covid-19 response acknowledged in a briefing with committee members that the agency did not “have enough data to be sure” that children are “unlikely to be major drivers of the spread of the virus,” as the July guidance asserted, the committee said.
In an Oct. 23 letter, published by the subcommittee Tuesday, Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the C.D.C. director, told the committee said that “some of the information on our education guidance pages is out of date.”
