White House press secretary claims it's 'perfectly safe' for kids to go back to school

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany suggested Thursday that schools look past science when deciding to reopen this fall.

President Trump, McEnany said in a press conference, is all for making sure schools are "open and full" this fall, with "kids being able to attend each and every day at their school." "The science should not stand in the way of this," McEnany continued, adding that it is "perfectly safe" to fully reopen classes and "science is on our side" in doing so.

A study out of Germany did suggest "children act more as a brake on infection," because "not every infection that reaches them is passed on." Still, the study was conducted in an area of Germany with a low infection rate, and many parents may have kept their children home even as schools reopened with full classrooms.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

But while Germany has actually curbed its coronavirus spread, America's COVID-19 cases are continuing to skyrocket. Some experts have said that schools in areas where cases are falling can reopen, but only if they follow strict guidelines that limit group activities and overall exposure.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.