In this April 27, 2020, file photo, a worker passes public school buses parked at a depot in Manchester, N.H.Charles Krupa/The Associated Press
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would pressure state governors to open schools in the fall, despite a surges in coronavirus cases across the country that have prompted some local officials to pause or scale back reopening plans.
Speaking at a White House event to discuss reopening of schools, Trump, who is seeking re-election in November, said some people wanted to keep schools closed for political reasons.
“No way, so we’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools,” Trump said, adding that both parents and their children want this.
The White House invited more than two dozen education and health officials from across the United States to discuss how to safely reopen schools.
Trump, a Republican, acknowledged that there were rising coronavirus infections in some states, but said that the mortality rate had dropped sharply, adding that young people who contract the virus “do extraordinarily well.”
“It’s time to be open, it’s time to stay open and we will put out the fires as they come,” he said of infection flare-ups.
Business and conservative groups have urged reopening schools safely as important for getting parents back to work and reviving the U.S. economy.
“Schools connect students with peers and mentors, channel youthful energy into productive pursuits, teach essential academic skills and knowledge, and give overwhelmed parents room to breathe and work,” the American Enterprise Institute think tank said in urging preparations for fall school reopenings.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield said in one of the White House forums that school reopenings will need to take place in the continued presence of the coronavirus, but proper safety measures can be taken. He noted that the CDC never recommended closing schools.
“We need to reopen the schools. We can do this safely. We need to commit to it and we need just to get it done,” Redfield said
The call comes as state and local governments, which largely control schools for kindergarten through 12th grade, grapple with how to handle the upcoming school year, seeking to balance the need for education with the risk of spreading the highly contagious disease.
The White House events were short on specific instructions for how to open. Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said it would take “a lot of hand sanitizer,” handwashing soap and personal protective equipment.
Educators say socialization and other benefits such as school food programs are critically important. Experts have also shown online learning exacerbates the divide between poorer and more wealthy Americans, who have greater access to technology.
But an alarming surge in cases in the United States, especially among younger people, has raised concerns about the increased risk of spread by children to vulnerable adults at home as well as to older teachers and school staff.
FLORIDA ORDER
Florida, a Republican-led state, on Monday issued a sweeping executive order for children to return to school this fall, despite sharply rising new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations there.
Asked about Florida, a senior administration official told reporters that “these are state and local decisions at the end of the day, and we are confident that state and local leaders across the country are taking these decisions very seriously.”
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said it was too soon to decide on schools given the nature of the resurgent outbreak.
If Trump wants schools to reopen, he should call for masks to be worn nationwide, she told CNN, calling mask wearing “a simple, cost-effective” solution to mitigate virus spread.
Colleges and universities are also weighing plans to resume this autumn, including calendar changes and online classes.
The Trump administration on Monday said foreign students must leave the country if their schools move to fully online classes, which could chop revenue for those schools.
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