Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, who happens to be a big fan of Donald Trump, dismissed parents’ concerns over sending their kids back to school during a pandemic by claiming that if the children contract the disease at school they can just “go home and get over it.”
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Parson made his claims on Friday while conducting an interview with talk-radio host Marc Cox.
“These kids have got to get back to school,” Parson said. “They’re at the lowest risk possible. And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going to have to sit in doctor’s offices. They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.”
While it is true that children have a significantly lower risk of suffering life-threatening symptoms when contracting the virus, Parson failed to address that they will put their families’ lives at risk.
Additionally, there are concerns about teachers and other school staffers getting the disease.
“We worry about those in school who are not children — teachers, support staff and volunteers,” Dr. Alex Garza, incident commander of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, told the Post-Dispatch. “Many of those people will have a much more serious response to the virus and that is what we want to avoid. These children could also come home and spread the virus to others in their household who could also be at a greater risk of a serious outcome.”
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