Back To School: CDC Director, Secretary Of Education Discuss Mask Protocol While In Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- The head of the Center for Disease Control and the Secretary of Education were in Boston on Friday discussing how to reopen schools safely for both students and teachers. With cases of the delta variant spreading by the day, some are pushing for masks to be required in school.
At the Roxbury Boys & Girls Club, Director Rochelle Walensky and Secretary Miguel Carbona said they supported masking up, but stopped short of saying there should be a mandate.
"Delta is going to find the places where we have not put up enough of a guard," said Walensky.
"We shouldn't be debating whether we should protect our students or not," said Carbona. He pointed out that the safety protocol in place has been working, including mask-wearing in schools.
"The last thing I want for these students is to have them not go to school and be learning remote because of something that was preventable," said Carbona.
Both said safety measures that are taken seriously in schools should be used in the community as well.
"If you have a lot of disease in the community, you may disease in the school. The whole point is to have disease not transmitted in the school," said Walensky.
The biggest weapon in the fight against the coronavirus is still vaccination.
Walensky said, "My job, I feel, is to give you the information that you need to see the perspective that I see to say 'whoa, I want to be vaccinated.'"
The Provincetown cluster is an example of vaccine effectiveness, according to Walensky.
"What happened in Barnstable County, is that there were several hundred cases, that's for sure. Seven people were hospitalized. This could have been a complete superspreader event with so many hospitalizations and so many deaths -- we didn't see that. I think the take home picture of Barnstable County is a remarkable store of vaccine success," she told WBZ-TV.
