AFT President Randi Weingarten Welcomes Biden’s Six-Part COVID-19 Action Plan

WASHINGTON—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement in response to President Joe Biden’s remarks today outlining increased efforts to keep Americans safe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic:

“The Biden administration is using every lever of government to keep people in America safe from the latest COVID-19 surge, prevent further mutations, and help every American get their lives back to some semblance of normalcy. If we truly want to put COVID-19 behind us—for our economy to stay open and grow, our hospitals not to be overrun by COVID-19 cases, and our kids to go to school, and remain in school, full time, in person—we need to embrace the scientifically proven methods to keep this virus at bay: masking, testing, vaccinations and ventilation.

“As Americans, we have a choice: to come together as a society, or to approach this crisis politically or individually. We must decide if we’re going to beat this pandemic or let it beat us. The AFT wants to beat the pandemic, and that means now we must work together as a community. That’s why we stand in complete support of this plan and of the administration’s effort to protect as many people as possible.”