President Donald Trump is insisting the COVID-19 virus will “go away like things go away,” despite health experts’ uncertainty that the virus will be eradicated.
The president continued to press for schools to reopen in the fall, as several states are still seeing increasing in coronavirus cases.
“My view is the schools should open. This thing is going away,” the president said during Wednesday’s “Fox & Friends” interview. “It will go away like things go away and my view is that schools should be open.”
The president then made a false claim that children are “almost immune” from COVID-19.
“It doesn’t have an impact on them and I have watched some doctors say they’re totally immune,” Trump added. “The fact is that they are virtually immune from this problem and we have to open our schools.”
As the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, evidence indicates “if children become infected, they are far less likely to suffer severe symptoms.” The death rate is also “much lower” for children than adults. Additionally, studies show “COVID-19 transmission among children in schools may be low.” However, children can still contract COVID-19.
Listen to the president’s comments below:
https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1290983908113362945
States have taken different approaches in reopening plans for schools, as some counties have opted for all online classes and others for at least partial in-person instruction.
States like Florida, Arizona, and Texas, who all saw a spike in coronavirus cases in July, have started to see a downward trend in cases.
Dr. Anthony Fauci shared on July 22 that he thinks “we ultimately will get control” of the coronavirus but he does not “really see us eradicating it,” as IJR previously reported.