With little more than a month before schools across the nation are set to begin the 20-21 school year, President Donald Trump and his allies are urging them to reopen on schedule, with few if any safety measures in place to slow the spread of the virus.
While some schools and universities have committed to going partially or fully online for the fall term, other institutions are still grappling with how to proceed.
The President has been actively encouraging them to reopen.
The model of most schools in the United States is functionally oppositional to guidelines advised by health experts. They traditionally require as many students as possible in an indoor facility, learning, eating, and playing together. While many conservatives emphasize that children tend to be less susceptible to the virus, there are also concerns regarding the adults—teachers, faculty, custodial staff, and others—who will be put in harm's way to do their jobs.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that schools teach hygiene practices and cancel gatherings like sporting events before reopening. Some schools have also decided to alternate in-person learning with virtual learning before phasing in a full five day school week.
When responding to concerns that the White House is calling for schools to reopen without putting forth a national strategy for doing so, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany's answer, for some, left a lot to be desired.
Watch below.
Kayleigh: The President has said unmistakably he wants schools to open up... When he says open, he means open in full... the science should not stand in the way of this.. pic.twitter.com/y5qeiblKHu
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) July 16, 2020
McEnany assured that, by "reopening," the President meant, "he means open in full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their schools."
She continued:
"The science should not stand in the way of this."
She went on to cite Fox News commentator Dr. Scott Atlas, who asserted that "everyone else in the world" is opening schools and that the United States "is the outlier here."
The United States is also the outlier in the number of virus cases and deaths. Most countries in Europe succeeded at containing the virus and can now feasibly talk about reopening schools.
People took issue with McEnany asserting that science "should not stand in the way" of schools reopening.
They also spotted the flaws in Atlas's claim that the United States is "the outlier" when it comes to reopening schools.
The United States has surpassed 3.5 million cases of the virus.
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