A nearly complete version of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reopening guidelines previously shelved by the White House has been made public. But at least one of the things stripped out is … interesting.
The White House didn’t like the original version because it was “too prescriptive,” and everyone knows that what a deadly pandemic requires is less detailed guidance. What that meant, of course, was that some of its prescriptions were at odds with Donald Trump’s push to reopen things regardless of safety.
The current, 60-page version of the guidelines does include detailed advice of the kind the Trump administration has been reluctant to provide lest it be too much of a bummer. But one key thing is missing for political reasons. Social distancing advice for churches and other faith-based groups was “stripped” at the insistence of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights.
”Protections against religious discrimination aren't suspended during an emergency,” that office’s director told CNN. “This means the federal government cannot single out religious conduct as somehow being more dangerous or worthy of scrutiny than comparable secular behavior. HHS has a duty to instruct the public on how to stay safe during this crisis and can absolutely do so without dictating to people how they should worship God.”
Except that we’re talking about a document that provides guidelines for mass transit, restaurants and bars, employers with workers at high risk, schools and day camps, and child care programs. Including guidelines for places of worship would not be singling them out. In fact, it would be treating them exactly as other places where groups of people gather are being treated. This is the Trump administration requiring special treatment for churches in complete disregard for public health.
Still, after a series of leaks and some public pressure, the Trump administration has allowed the nation’s top public health agency to offer advice on a major public health crisis. Yay?