BREAKING: NYC’s Covid czar caved to teachers’ union to keep schools closed even though he knew it was hurting kids

"I wanted kids in school, the mayor wanted kids in school," Varma told hid fake date, an undercover reporter. "But the teachers' union didn't. The teachers' union wanted all the teachers to be able to stay home and Zoom so they'd be safe, even though it means the kids get hurt. So the mayor was screwed." He clarified that the way children were getting hurt was "because kids learn more when you're in school. When you're like an 8-year-old or a 9-year-old, you cna't sit in front of a f*cking Zoom screen all day."

When asked if it was "actually harmful to chidlren," Varma said "It was! But we didn't have a choice because the mayor really wanted them in school, but the unions didn't, the labor unions and so you had to like, find this weird— this is where I get upset at him but he didn't tell the unions to just f*ck off." This was not only pandering to the unions, but pandering to Democrats.

New York City shut down schools on March 13, 2020, and school was a haphazard mess of closures and openings, with varying rules about when kids could be in class and when they couldn't based on Covid exposure, not just infection. The American Federation of Teachers under President Randi Weingarten was adamant about keeping schools closed to keep teachers safe, even as it became clear that children were not vectors of the virus.

In April 2021, a year after schools were closed, while kids were still be kept out of class for two weeks at a stretch simply for being exposed to someone with the virus, Varma was asked during the morning Covid press conference with the mayor about the school closure policies.

A journlist asked, "So, before children were not as impacted by COVID when compared to adults, but now with the emergence of these variants, especially the one that originated in the UK, we're seeing a surge in cases among kids. So, how is a school system factoring in these new developments during this push to bring more students back to school in-person?"

Di Blasio pushed the question to Varma, saying "I'm going to turn to Dr. Jay Varma. I want you to know that topic is something we've talked about a lot, and Dr. Varma has been monitoring the situation all around the world. In fact, he did a scholarly paper on the experiences we've had in New York City that have helped us to understand how to keep schools safe. So, he can give you a sense of how we're looking at those trends and addressing them."

"Great, thank you very much for the question," Varma said. "And, you know, to reiterate what we've said many times before, you know, we are concerned about the evolution of the virus, the emergence of new variants and how they can impact our city. From everything we have done so far involved in – in our school system, we have shown that despite the surge of the second wave, we were able to keep schools safe during that time. And I think it's because we adopted this gold standard approach at the beginning of the year. Now, what this change allows us to do is to end the era of disruptive 24-hour closures.

"You know, we've documented the harm that can occur from disrupting the social, emotional, and educational development of children. And we're balancing that with the data that we've learned from over 700,000 tests, hundreds of case investigations, and really the close partnership with our colleagues in the union and with families. So, I do feel confident that we can continue to apply very rigorous safety standards that will keep our schools safe, even though the virus is, you know, fighting back by evolving and changing. And, of course, to always emphasize the fact that we are grounded in data and science, if new things emerge, new information emerges, we're always going to adjust our protocols to match and maximize health and safety."

Schools were closed for 18 months in New York City, resulting in massive learning loss for the city's millions of school children.