CDC changing school guidelines after Trump carps

"We're safely reopening our country. And very importantly, we're safely reopening our schools. We want the school to be open."

The Trump administration's focus on Wednesday was squarely on reopening schools in the United States, despite a surge in coronavirus cases across the country.

"It's time. It's time to get our kids back to school."

Vice President Mike Pence during a coronavirus task force briefing at the Department of Education said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would issue new guidelines for schools next week, just hours after Trump attacked the CDC's current guidelines on Twitter, calling them "very tough & expensive."

"The president said today we just don't want the guidance to be too tough."

CDC Director Robert Redfield said his agency and the White House were on the same page.

"I want to make it very clear that what is not the intent of CDC's guidelines is to be used as a rationale to keep schools closed."

Trump accused Democrats of wanting to keep schools shut for political reasons and threatened to cut off funding to schools that don't open their doors in the fall.

(TRUMP ON TUESDAY): "We're very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools."

It wasn't clear what specific federal aid Trump had in mind. States are responsible for primary and secondary education under the U.S. Constitution, but the federal government does provide some supplementary funding.

"This is getting a little old."

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo - Trump's main foil throughout the pandemic - said on Wednesday that Trump has no authority on when schools reopen.

"School reopenings are a state decision, period... We will open the schools if it is safe to open the schools."

The CDC has recommended sneeze guards and dividing students into small groups, as well as eating in classrooms instead of cafeterias.

Business and conservative groups have said reopening schools safely is an important step to getting parents back to work and reviving the U.S. economy.

But the alarming surge in cases in the U.S. has raised concerns about the increased risk of spread of the virus by children to vulnerable adults in multigenerational homes as well as to older teachers and school staff.