White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany re-iterated this week the Trump administration’s desire to get schools open for the fall, saying that “science should not stand in the way of this.”
Asked by a reporter what Trump says to parents who are trying to figure out what to do with their children now that some schools have opted to go online-only in the fall, McEnany responded, “The president has said unmistakably that he wants schools to open and I was just in the Oval [Office] talking about to him about that. And when he says ‘open,’ he means open in full, kids being able to attend, each and every day at their school.”
She continued, “The science should not stand in the way of this.” She went on to quote former Stanford Neuroradiology Chief Dr. Scott Atlas, who said on Fox News, “Of course, we can [reopen schools.] Everyone else in the world and the western world, our peer nations are doing it.”
McEnany went on to say, “The science is on our side here, we encourage, per localities and states, to just simply follow the science, open our schools. It’s very damaging to our children, there is a lack of reporting of abuse, there is mental depressions that are not addressed, suicidal ideations that are not addressed when students are not in school. Our schools are extremely important, they’re essential and they must re-open.”
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on school reopenings:
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 16, 2020
"The science should not stand in the way of this.” pic.twitter.com/w6H9DM0uTV
Trump has been demanding that schools re-open, but recent polling has shown that much of the country is not the same page. A Reuters/Ispos poll conducted on July 14-15 found that only 26% of American adults believe that schools should re-open.
Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, declined to give a broad response this week when asked about schools re-opening, saying, “If you’re in the part of a country where the dynamics of the outbreak are really minimal, if at all, then there’s no problem at all in getting back. If you’re in a situation where you’re in outbreak mode, then you leave it up to the local individuals.”
