MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st February, 2021) The administration of US President Joe Biden still hopes to reopen schools across the country for in-person learning by April, despite the threat of new variants of COVID-19 spreading in the US, Cedric Richmond, a senior presidential advisor, told the CBS broadcaster on Sunday.
"Well, yes. And the key to it is making sure that we pass the American rescue plan so that we provide the school systems and local municipalities the ability to open schools safely. And we think that if we invest in the resources to make it safe, schools should reopen," Richmond said when asked whether Biden is still planning to push for in-person learning by April.
According to the official, to implement the plan, the authorities are currently making efforts to ramp up the national vaccination campaign, delivering 1.6 million vaccine doses to the states every week.
"But our plan and why we need to pass the American Rescue Plan is to make sure that we give the school systems the ability to buy the masks, the ventilation systems, all of those things that's needed to open up," the politician added.
To date, the United States still has the highest case count in the world � 26,007,663 infections, including 439,587 fatalities. The country has also confirmed both the UK and South African strains of the coronavirus on its territory. According to US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, the UK variant will become more dominant in the United States by the middle of spring.
