President Donald Trump Doubles Down On Schools Reopening With Fiery Tweet
President Donald Trump reaffirmed his stance that schools should reopen with children attending in-person classes this fall in a pointed Twitter post on Friday. In doing so, the president once again threatened to withhold federal funding from schools should they fail to do so. Trump also strongly decried the “virtual learning” that has taken place amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“Now that we have witnessed it on a large scale basis, and firsthand, Virtual Learning has proven to be TERRIBLE compared to In School, or On Campus, Learning,” the president tweeted. “Not even close! Schools must be open in the Fall. If not open, why would the Federal Government give Funding? It won’t!!!”
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Trump held a White House event on Tuesday in an effort to drive officials to reopen educational institutions around the country. He argued that schools are being kept closed for political reasons and also opined that continuing to keep students out of schools once the fall semester begins would pose a greater health risk to them than anything related to COVID-19.
One day later, he lauded countries like Denmark, Norway and Germany that have seemingly reopened schools without issue and floated the idea of cutting funding via Twitter.
“The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families,” he wrote. “May cut off funding if not open.”
Although the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) has indicated that it won’t be changing its guidelines for reopening schools amid the president’s criticism that they’re both “impractical” and “expensive,” Trump is getting some measure of support from a group of health officials regarding reopening itself.
For his part, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield has stated that schools are indeed capable of opening safely this fall (with adherence to the established guidelines). Moreover, several coronavirus experts have actually echoed the president’s assertion that keeping students at home could be more detrimental than sending them back to school.
While he stated he wouldn’t follow Trump’s advice for handling COVID-19 in general, Dr. Amesh Adalja — an infectious disease physician at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security — did say that the president’s position on reopening schools is supported by science in a CBC report. Other health professionals cited in the report similarly denounced Trump’s overarching coronavirus opinions, but indicated a level of agreement about reopening.
