News Editor’s Roundup: CDC Says Students Should Continue Wearing Masks for Remainder of the School Year

The CDC recently issued guidance that schools continue enforcing COVID-19 mitigation strategies for the rest of the school year as most students aren't fully vaccinated.

BY JACK CROWE May 17, 2021 Good morning and welcome to the News Editor's Roundup, a weekly newsletter that will ensure you're up to date on the developments in politics, business, and culture that will shape the week's news cycle — as well as those that might escape mainstream attention.    CDC Says Students Should Continue Wearing Masks for Remainder of the School Year The CDC recently issued guidance that schools continue enforcing COVID-19 mitigation strategies for the rest of the school year as most students aren't fully vaccinated.   The updated recommendation came on May 15, two days after the agency announced that anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing.   As only people age 12 and up are currently eligible to receive a COVID vaccine, millions of school-age children are still unprotected from the virus, the agency said.   AT&T to Merge Media Business with Discovery, Creating Streaming Giant AT&T has agreed to spin off its WarnerMedia group and merge it with its rival programmer Discovery, joining two of the largest media businesses in the country, the companies announced Monday.   The deal, which could create a new massive media company valued at around $150 billion, will combine HBO, Warner Bros. studios, CNN and several other cable networks with Discovery's numerous reality-based cable channels, including Oprah Winfrey's OWN, HGTV, The Food Network and Animal Planet.    AT&T will receive $43 billion in a mix of cash, debt and WarnerMedia's retention of certain debt for the deal, the companies said. While current AT&T shareholders will receive stock representing 71 percent of the new company, Discovery shareholders will control 29 percent, they said.   CDC's Walensky Denies Politics Played Role in Updated Mask Guidelines Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky denied that political pressure played a role in the agency's updated mask guidelines, in comments on Fox News Sunday.   Host Chris Wallace asked Walensky to confirm that pressure from lawmakers didn't influence the new guidelines.   "I can confirm," Walensky said. The CDC announced on Thursday that Americans vaccinated for coronavirus do not need to wear masks indoors except in specific situations such as on public transportation.   "I can tell you it certainly would have been easier if the science had evolved a week earlier and I didn't have to go to Congress making those statements, but I'm delivering the science as the science is delivered to the medical journals," Walensky added. "And, you know, it evolved over this last week, the cases came down over the last two weeks. And so that's — I delivered it as soon as I can when we had that information available."   Crenshaw Says GOP Can't 'Excommunicate' President Trump Representative Dan Crenshaw (R., Texas) appeared to caution against attempts to push former president Trump out of a position of influence within the GOP, in comments on MSNBC's Meet the Press on Sunday.   Host Chuck Todd asked whether Crenshaw believed Trump was a "legitimate leader of the Republican party."   "Hold on, I believe that you're not going to excommunicate a former president, right?" Crenshaw responded. "I refuse to go into this sort of black and white thinking about, it's either totally one thing or totally the other. These are complex human relationships that involve millions of people."   Cheney: Trump's Stolen-Election Comments Create Image of U.S. as 'Failed Nation' Representative Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.) warned that President Trump's allegations that Democrats "stole" could give the impression that the U.S. is a "failed nation," in comments to ABC News on Sunday.   Cheney said that Trump's continued remarks play into assessments by enemies of the U.S., in particular China, that democracy is inferior to an autocratic model.   "To cause that kind of questioning about our process, frankly, it's the same kinds of things that the Chinese Communist Party says about democracy: that it's a failed system, that America is a failed nation," Cheney said. "I won't be part of that."   Tulsa Race-Massacre Commission Ousts GOP Governor over Critical-Race-Theory Ban Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt, a Republican, was removed from the commission overseeing the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre on Friday after he signed a bill banning critical race theory in the state's schools.   "The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commissioners met Tuesday and agreed through consensus to part ways with Governor Stitt," the commission said in a statement on Friday.   It adds that the commission "is disheartened to part ways with Governor Stitt" but "thankful for the things accomplished together."    The ouster comes after commission project manager Phil Armstrong last week rebuked Stitt for signing a bill that prohibits the teaching of critical race theory.   Jesus Statue Toppled, American Flag Burned at NYC Church Vandals toppled a statue of Jesus and burned an American flag outside a Catholic church in Brooklyn, N.Y. in a possible hate crime, authorities said.   The vandal reportedly jumped the fence at St. Athanasius Church in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn around 10 p.m. on Thursday, according to the New York Post. The suspect then tipped over a statue of Jesus' crucifixion, smashing it to pieces, and set an American flag hanging outside the rectory aflame, police said.    Monsignor David Cassato, the church's pastor, discovered the damage on Friday morning and reported it to the NYPD, according to a statement from the Diocese of Brooklyn.   Newsom Proposes Expanding State Health Care to Undocumented Seniors Under Democratic governor Gavin Newsom's revised budget proposal released Friday, California would expand its low-income health-care program eligibility to undocumented immigrants 60 years and older.   An $859 million investment has been included in the budget to cover 89,000 elderly people living in the state illegally. The expanded eligibility would be effective next May.   The governor's move comes after the state collected enormous amounts of tax revenue and generated a $76 billion budget surplus. Democrats in the state pressured Newsom to scale up Medi-Cal coverage to include all low-income adults of all ages, regardless of immigration status, a recommendation that would cost $2 billion.   Walmart Will Stop Requiring Masks for Employees and Customers Walmart Inc., the nation's largest private employer, announced Friday that it no longer would require vaccinated employees and customers to wear masks in stores and warehouses outside of municipalities that mandate it.   The company's decision follows new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks or social-distance in most venues and settings. Walmart workers can start forgoing face coverings May 18, Walmart disclosed. Vaccinated shoppers do not need masks, effective immediately.   The CDC said it updated the guidance after new research concluded that inoculation reduces the risk of infection and transmission as well as disease and death. 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