May 20, 2020 - Health

CDC releases detailed 60-page road map on reopening

In this image, CDC Director Robert Redfield wears a face mask

CDC director Robert Redfield at the White House on May 15. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The CDC recently released a new 60-page road map for states, restaurants, schools, child care programs, mass transit systems and other businesses to navigate reopening during the coronavirus pandemic.

Why it matters: The guidelines were published after nearly every state in the U.S. had already taken steps to at least reopen certain regions and industries that are seen as "low-risk" for spreading the virus, per a New York Times analysis.

Between the lines: The White House coronavirus task force asked the CDC to revise its original extensive reopening guidelines that the agency had prepared more than a month ago, believing they were "overly prescriptive," an administration official told Axios' Alayna Treene.

  • Early versions of the rejected documents included detailed guidance for churches and religious institutions, which the White House requested to be taken out, according to AP.
  • The newly released road map does not include a section for communities of faith and was published over the weekend, the New York Times reports. The CDC did not respond to a request for comment.

What's new: The road map offers hints at how ordinary parts of Americans' day-to-day lives may be changed in the aftermath of the coronavirus.

  • In schools, the CDC recommends that meals should be served in classrooms instead of cafeterias. Teachers and children should be given daily temperature screenings.
  • In restaurants, the CDC says that menus should be digital or disposable and that utensils and dishes should be disposable as well.
  • When mass transit resumes service, routes should be adjusted between areas with high infection rates, when possible.

Go deeper: Read the CDC guidelines

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