On Thursday, President Donald Trump canceled his Republican National Convention in Florida next month amid concerns over the coronavirus outbreak. But that’s not stopping Trump from demanding that schools reopen and send 50 million American children from going to risk getting infected with the virus.
Minutes after nixing the RNC event, Trump argued Thursday that an extended shutdown would ultimately “lead to greater mortality and irreversible harm.”
“The prosperity of the U.S. economy hinges on children returning to school in person this fall,” Trump said during a press conference, according to Politico. “Reopening our schools is also critical to ensuring that parents can go to work and provide for their families,” he added.
“It’s a tremendous problem. It’s a tremendous problem. Schools have to open safely,” he continued.
Minutes after the briefing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its delayed guidance for reopening schools, including checklists to help parents determine whether they are comfortable sending their children back for in-person learning in the fall.
The CDC acknowledged in the new guidance that “relatively little” is known about how the virus is transmitted to children and that “while uncommon, deaths and rare illness may occur.”
But the agency also emphasized the value of in-person learning, including access to school nutrition programs, as well as interaction beneficial to social and emotional wellness.
