Is Randi Weingarten consulting Eric Ding on reopening public schools?

Despite the New York Times framing American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten — one of America’s most prominent education leaders — as a kind of school reopening champion, Weingarten has a more complicated record related to reopening the nation’s public schools. While there are likely many reasons for Weingarten’s thinking and rhetoric, I suspect that one reason may be her consumption of social media personality Eric Ding’s posts. A couple examples follow:

Ding — who has a background in nutritional epidemiology — is a controversial pandemic personality with a large social media following — Barack Obama follows him! — and has repeatedly expressed quite a bit of concern about reopening schools during the pandemic, despite relative European success with the challenge. Ding certainly doesn’t mince words — or emoji! — about schools, children, and Covid-19: