Trump on kids getting covid-19 in school: ‘You can be driving to school and some bad things can happen, too’
On Tuesday, Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a Senate committee during a virtual hearing that policymakers should be cautious about opening up schools, which closed across the country this spring to try to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
During the hearing, Fauci was challenged by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who said it was “ridiculous” for schools not to open because children don’t really get sick from covid-19 — despite rising concerns among health experts about how children are affected and without noting that they can be silent carriers who infect adults also in a school building.
Fauci responded: “I think we better be careful that we’re not cavalier, in thinking that children are completely immune to the deleterious effects.”
Fauci also said, “We don’t know everything about this virus, and we really better be very careful particularly when it comes to children, because the more and more we learn, we’re seeing things about what this virus can do that we didn’t see from the studies in China or in Europe.”
And he said that it was “a bridge too far” to believe that medicine and a vaccine effective against covid-19 would be available by the time schools usually open for the fall semester.
On Wednesday, Trump continued Paul’s attack on Fauci during his meeting with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R). Trump said that Fauci’s comments were “not acceptable" and that schools should reopen soon. He repeated Paul’s statement that children are CONTINUE READING: Trump downplays danger of reopening schools - The Washington Post
