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Jen Psaki daily press briefing – Washington
WASHINGTON (77WABC) — The White House Tuesday walked back previous criticism of Democratic governors lifting mask mandates in schools this week.
This comes after four Democratic governors announced Monday they would lift school mask rules. Originally, White House Press Secretary Psaki refused to endorse the move.
Psaki on masking kids in schools. pic.twitter.com/T53K0a9C9d
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“Our hope is that states’ leaders will look at the science and data about what’s going on,” Psaki said. “They’ll make decisions about local school districts. Local school districts have always made these decisions. That remains the case.”
President Joe Biden is facing pressure for a return to normalcy from COVID as case rates continue to plummet. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, U.S. COVID cases are down 43% over the past seven days, recording 267,765 cases per day down from the 469,770 cases a week ago.
The administration put together a task force to recalculate hospitalizations after controversy ensued over how the country is counting the severity of COVID. Many have criticized calculations for not distinguishing between those who go to the hospital for COVID and those at the hospital for other reasons who test positive.
