Close bars and keep schools open, Fauci says. Has that worked in other countries? – By Hayley Fowler (Kansas City Star) / Nov 30 2020
A surge in new coronavirus cases has gripped the U.S. as school officials weigh spring semester reopening plans against the backdrop of a global pandemic.
The decision to bring students back for in-person instruction is chief among their concerns. But even as case numbers climb, infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci is in favor of keeping schools open. In an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Fauci said to “close the bars and keep the schools open,” Business Insider reported.
“Obviously, you don’t have one size fits all,” he said. “But as I said in the past, the default position should be to try as best as possible within reason to keep the children in school, or to get them back to school.”
Fauci’s take is similar to the approach public health officials have taken across much of Europe.
Grade schools in the United Kingdom started reopening in June for in-person instruction as the government scaled back COVID-19 restrictions. At the time, the country’s rate of new coronavirus cases was “on a downward trend,” NPR reported. A report by the government’s public health agency later found the few cases linked to schools that reopened were among teachers — not students, The Washington Post reported.
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