Parsing Policy: Pros, Cons Of Biden’s Approach To Reopening Schools; Trump’s Policies Created Public Health Disasters

Politico: Reopening Schools Has Become A Bipartisan Issue. Why Isn’t Biden Pushing Harder?
Barely a day goes by when another expert who’s looked at the evidence or a parent who has lived with the stresses of kids at home doesn’t call for the return of in-person instruction. In intellectual and moral terms, the debate over reopening schools has been won, but political progress has been slow, mainly because powerful teachers unions are standing in the way, especially in big cities. If Biden wanted to add a touch of unity to his governing agenda, he’d call out the teachers unions for being an obstacle to educational and economic progress at a challenging time for the country. Of course, their status as a political pillar of the Democratic coalition makes this impossible. (Rich Lowry, 2/10)

The Wall Street Journal: The Teachers Unions Roll Over Biden
President Biden made an early pandemic show by promising that a majority of American schools would reopen in his first 100 days in office. But on Tuesday we learned that this depends on the meaning of the word “reopen.” His goal that he set is to have the majority of schools, so more than 50 percent, open by day 100 of his presidency and that means some teaching in classrooms,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday. “So at least one day a week.” One day out of five? We doubt that’s how working parents define open. (2/10)

Boston Globe: Trump’s Environmental And Occupational Policies Are The Other Public Health Disasters
When history looks back at Donald Trump’s administration, the COVID-19 pandemic — which has so far killed about 470,000 Americans — will be seen as the biggest public health disaster of his term. But there is another, quieter health crisis for which Trump also bears full responsibility: a wide-scale rollback of environmental and occupational safeguards that resulted in more than 22,000 deaths during his term alone. From relaxing air pollution standards at coal-fired power plants and weakening fuel-economy rules for cars to allowing new uses of asbestos and weakening safety rules for underground miners, the damage done by Trump to Americans’ health has been profound. ( Philip J. Landrigan and Samantha Fisher, 2/11)

Newsweek: Biden And The Promise Of The People's Vaccine
President Joe Biden has made good on his pledge of re-joining the World Health Organization and committing to multilateralism in the U.S. COVID response by joining the international purchase and distribution platform COVAX. But he can do much more to ensure everyone, everywhere gets the COVID vaccine quickly. The world is watching as the three promising vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna/U.S. National Institute of Health and AstraZeneca/Oxford University are rolled-out in rich countries. Yet we're bracing ourselves for yet another major failure in the global COVID response: U.S. vaccine stocks are already running dry and AstraZeneca has failed to make good on its contracts to supply the European Union. (Mariana Mazzucato and Rebeca Grynspan, 2/11)

Stat: A Public Option For Health Insurance Could Be Costly In Times Of Crisis 
In a step to help more Americans get health insurance, President Biden signed an executive order creating an additional opportunity for Americans to sign up for subsidized coverage on the health insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act. But Biden has his eyes set on something bigger to fulfill his goals of expanding health coverage: creating a public option to compete with private insurance. (Lanhee J. Chen, Tom Church and Daniel L. Heil, 2/11)

The Hill: Full COVID Recovery Requires Raising The Minimum Wage 
The coronavirus crisis recovery has been labeled “k-shaped” because of the way it has magnified existing inequalities. For most highly paid workers, the last year has brought challenges like working from home and lost childcare, but little job loss. But the labor market for lower-wage workers has been devastated, with massive job loss and unemployment. Those essential and front-line workers who still have jobs have had to risk their health and the health of their families for little pay. (Jesse Rothstein and Heidi Shierholz, 2/10)

The New York Times: How Germany Lost Control Of The Coronavirus
BERLIN — “We have lost control of this thing.” Those were the words of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, surveying the country’s situation in late January at a confidential meeting. She spoke with typical precision. In Germany, which on Wednesday prolonged its current lockdown until at least March 7, things are bad: Since October, cases have soared — they are only now starting to come down — and over 50,000 people have died. An atmosphere of grim resignation prevails. (Anna Sauerbrey, 2/11)