A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientist says the agency sending draft school reopening guidance to a powerful teachers union was unusual. “It’s uncommon,” Dr. Henry Walke, who directs the CDC’s Center for Preparedness and Response, said. It is also not common for the CDC to incorporate line-by-line edits from outside groups into its guidance, Walke added. The career government scientist was speaking in February to staff members on the House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. Portions of the interview were released on March 30. Earlier releases showed the CDC used language provided by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the second-largest teachers union in the United States, in the guidance offered in February 2021 to safely reopen schools. That included a 123-word paragraph that included a possible trigger for school closures if community transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 increased and the recommendation that …