Malicious Misinformation Alert: These Are NOT the CDC Guidelines for Opening Schools

Seen this wandering through your social media channels? Here's what pediatrician Jane Macintyre has to say:

If you see this graphic, there are at least three things you need to know:

1. The CDC usually uses their logo, not clip art.
2. The CDC knows how to spell ‘guidelines’.
The CDC would say “only pre-packed boxes”, NOT “pre-packages boxes”.

Parents and guardians, here’s what you should know: here is the actual link to educate yourself and the rest of humanity: https://bit.ly/2LJFnXh

It clearly states

"Schools can determine, in collaboration with state and local health officials to the extent possible, whether and how to implement the guidelines or not.

I, Liz, think this clearly fake "CDC" infographic is from a certain faction in the "vaccines are dangerous" movement, to cause parents to fear and doubt the CDC. I have seen it spread by members of that faction.

The Special Kids' Advocacy Agency (in New York State) also had some things to say about the accuracy of this infographic

Leah Russin, co-founder of Vaccinate California, had more to say on the Vaccinate California twitter feed, summarized here:

Are you seeing a list of draconian-seeming CDC “guidelines” for opening schools circulating? Are people commenting that CDC is out of touch, that it’s never going to work, that they’d rather homeschool than send their kids to school like that?

Guess what: as far as I can tell, it was generated precisely to undermine confidence in the CDC. It is actually a distortion of the real guidelines, which are a collection of suggestions for ways to mitigate risks of exposure in schools for schools to consider, depending on what the actual risk of exposure is, and how feasible each measure is for individual age groups or communities. The earliest version I’ve seen is even formatted on a blue background very similar to the color CDC does actually use on its website, making it look like an actually CDC summary.

None of this is required nor is it even a complete or contextual representation of the CDC document, which you can read here:

Personally, I’d feel better sending my own child to school if as many exposure risks are mitigated as feasible. Plexiglass dividers at group tables allowing kids to see and talk to each other, but not sneeze on each other? Sounds great! But some parents can’t envision how that would work, and it seems absurd or scary.

An example of how the list mischaracterizes the source document: masks and young kids.

The CDC document says — masks are one thing you can consider to mitigate risk of transmission, and it would be a challenge for young children, and you shouldn’t even consider it for children under two. The version circulation disingenuously reframed that to say masks should be required for all children over two.