5 revelations from the House COVID-19 report

Pandemic-era school closures had long-term adverse impacts
The report criticizes the widespread school closures during the pandemic, stating that the closures will have lasting adverse effects on American children. It underscores that these closures were often enabled by organizations that were supposed to prioritize children's well-being.
"Pandemic-era school closures will have [an] enduring impact on generations of America's children," the report stated.
The findings included data showing that while public health agencies generally supported school closures, the CDC was not "convinced that short- or medium-term school closures would have any substantial impact on transmission."
Despite the CDC's skepticism, nearly all schools nationwide were shut down by the end of March 2020, the report noted.
The subcommittee emphasized that the long-term educational, social, and mental health impacts on students must be considered in any future response to public health crises.
The report is also critical of the American Federation of Teachers' influence on the Biden administration and transition team in 2021.
"AFT is not a scientific organization — it does not employ epidemiologists or immunologists. Instead, it is a political union — committed to activism on behalf of its 1.7 million members — that donated $2.4 million dollars to Democrat candidates during the 2020 election cycle," the report reads. "The extent of the AFT's political influence is reflected in the fact that the Biden administration reached out to AFT for advice on school reopening rather than the AFT reaching out to the Biden administration."
"While AFT ... [has] attempted to rewrite history by arguing that they were always trying to reopen the schools, this simply is not true," the report concludes. "AFT continually pushed for school closures throughout the pandemic. Restricting in-person schooling was always the default — not the alternative — mitigation measure underlying AFT's positions."