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  • 2020-07-22 (xsd:date)
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  • Did Betsy DeVos Say Schools Can’t Plan for a COVID-19 Outbreak That 'Hasn’t Happened Yet'? (en)
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  • Through the summer of 2020, the question of whether U.S. schools should reopen amidst the COVID-19 disease pandemic grew into a contentious political issue. School superintendents across the country were dismayed by President Donald Trump's push to reopen schools despite the health risks of doing so, and after Education Secretary Betsy DeVos gave an interview with CNN in July 2020 during which she reiterated the administration’s goal, one statement attributed to her began making the internet rounds. Snopes readers asked us if DeVos actually said, You can’t plan for something that hasn’t happened yet, in response to a question about what would happen if a school had a COVID-19 outbreak. The following image reproducing that alleged statement was widely shared on Facebook: The statement appeared to be a highly paraphrased version of what DeVos said during her July 12 interview with CNN's Dana Bash. We watched the 21-minute interview and found that Devos' response at roughly the 17:44 mark appears to be what was referenced in the meme. In answering Bash's questions, Devos often went in circles, hedged, or sidestepped providing direct responses. She did not use the exact words presented in the meme, and although she did say something similar, it was in a different context than that offered in the meme. During the interview, Bash persistently queried DeVos about what school districts should do in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak in the classroom, and a transcript of part of that exchange reads as follows: As indicated by the bolded section, DeVos did not directly say that schools couldn't plan for a potential COVID-19 outbreak, but rather that planning for a long-term, school-year shutdown was different than preparing for handling a brief flare-up of COVID-19 that might occur after schools had re-opened. We should note that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that if a school found at least one confirmed COVID-19 case in the building, it should assess the risk, and regardless of the extent of community spread, shut down for potentially 2-5 days to clean and contact trace. In the case of substantial community spread, the CDC has recommended extended school dismissals. Like many of DeVos' responses, this one did not offer a firm answer about what a school district could or should do in that situation. Rather, her language repeatedly sidestepped Bash's questioning in favor of returning to her main talking point about the necessity of reopening schools. In summary, the meme circulating on Facebook suggested a clear statement on DeVos' part that schools could not actually prepare for a COVID-19 outbreak that hasn't happened yet. DeVos did not expressly say or suggest that, so we thus rate this claim Mostly False. (en)
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