Dr. Fauci Says Schools Should Be Able To Reopen In The Fall

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN that it is time to start discussing plans to reopen schools in the fall. Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he believes it should be safe for kids to return to the classroom but cautioned there is no one-size-fits-all policy that will work for every school in the country.

"I hesitate to make any broad statements about whether it is or is not quote 'safe' for kids to come back to school," Fauci told CNN. "When you talk about children going back to school and their safety, it really depends on the level of viral activity and the particular area that you're talking about. What happens all too often, understandably, but sometimes misleadingly, is that we talk about the country as a whole in a unidimensional way."

He said that school officials and teachers will have to get "creative" as they try to navigate social distancing guidelines and implement new policies to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

"In some situations, there will be no problem for children to go back to school," he said. "In others, you may need to do some modifications. You know, modifications could be breaking up the class, so you don't have a crowded classroom, maybe half in the morning, half in the afternoon, having children doing alternate schedules. There's a whole bunch of things that one can do."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a list of suggestions for schools to reduce the spread of the virus, including increasing the space between desks, closing down the cafeteria, or limiting the number of people eating at one time, and staggering pick-up and drop-off times to prevent large groups of people from gathering at once.

Photo: Getty Images


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