Dr. Joyce Demands Answers on School Lockdowns During Committee Hearing

Washington, DC – Congressman John Joyce, M.D. (PA-13), questioned the President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Randi Weingarten on policies that kept American students out of classrooms and caused a devastating loss of learning following the COVID-19 virus outbreak.

Dr. Joyce, a practicing physician for over 25 years, questioned Weingarten on the AFT’s attempt to keep schools closed despite having no doctors on staff to inform the medical policy that the union was advocating.

“Guidance based on complex immunology and epidemiology, requires scientific expertise,” said Congressman Joyce. “It’s important that scientific guidance be based on the opinions of experts, not political unions.” 

AFT’s proposed language included an unnecessary “trigger” in the Centers for Disease Control’s school reopening guidance that automatically would have shut schools down and closed longer than necessary.

“Ms. Weingarten, do you employ any epidemiologists,” asked Congressman Joyce. “Who did you rely on to make your recommendations to the CDC for its February 2021 Operational Strategy?”

Watch Dr. Joyce’s line of questioning here.

During his questioning, Dr. Joyce highlighted the devastating impacts of school closures on American students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the U.S. Education Department, reading scores saw their largest decrease in 30 years, while math scores had their first decrease in the history of the testing regimen behind the study.