Appearing on CNN Sunday morning, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said her organization “pushed very hard” to get the Trump administration to stop “pretending” coronavirus was not real.
Weingarten said, “We pushed very hard to get the Trump administration, you know, back in January and February to do something as opposed to pretending that this was not real.”
She continued, “I think what happens is that’s where you have to be guided by the science and not by fear. The scientists right now become really important. There are still — I mean, I know that the president basically got rid of all the pandemic experts in the White House — but there are still scientists at the CDC who really understand and know what they’re doing. There are scientists around the country who know what they’re doing.”
The Teachers’ Union head added, “I’m glad finally the president is taking it seriously and not pretending that this will not happen in the United States. You have to be honest with the public. So these two things, you know, or three things, wash your hands. Second, there is a test for the coronavirus. And those test kits have to be made readily available. Number three, we have to make sure that there’s protective equipment like the specialized masks that health care practitioners and providers have to have. So these things have to be available. Unfortunately, our government, you know, pretended that this didn’t exist.”
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