Biden administration to direct $12 billion in relief funds for COVID testing in schools
17 March 2021
The Biden administration will funnel more than $12 billion from the American Rescue Plan toward COVID-19 testing in K-12 schools, as part of a push to reopen the remaining closed districts for in-person learning, the Department of Health and Human Services will announce Wednesday.
Why it matters: About 20% of the country's students are still fully remote. Though the number of reopened schools grows each week, many still aren't at full capacity or are struggling to convince some parents and teachers to return to the classrooms.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will also release new guidance Wednesday on asymptomatic screening tests in schools, workplaces and congregate settings.
- CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday that the agency is looking at potentially cutting social distancing guidelines from 6 feet to 3 feet to help more kids get back to school.
The big picture: Several school districts across the US. have been investing in their own surveillance testing protocols to ease worried parents and teachers.
By the numbers: As a part of the newly signed $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, $10 billion in funding will go toward screening tests to help schools reopen.
- $2.25 billion will be directed toward scaling up testing in underserved populations.
What to watch: White House testing coordinator Carole Johnson and CDC Director Walensky will elaborate on the plans on Wednesday afternoon.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.