Dr. Scott Gottlieb — former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner for President Donald Trump — is suggesting testing delays could prohibit schools from opening sooner rather than later amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday, Gottlieb was asked if issues with testing need to be solved before students can return to the classroom.
Gottlieb acknowledged schools do need to reopen, but suggested the only way to do so safely is to make sure the coronavirus does not spread throughout schools.
“While we do need to lean forward and try to open our schools because it’s important to children, we need to prevent outbreaks from happening in those schools,” Gottlieb said.
He added, “We can’t just let infection run rampant inside the schools and having good testing in place is going to be a critical tool.”
Check out his comments below:
BACK TO SCHOOL: @ScottGottliebMD tells @margbrennan fixing testing delays needs to happen before the country moves to send kids #backtoschool this fall. WATCH → pic.twitter.com/SVbTje2cY8
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 26, 2020
Gottlieb noted if test results do not come back in a timely manner, there is no way to know if there is an outbreak within the community or in the school.
He claimed if there are more outbreaks or hot spots, it will become more difficult to test.
“If we do have other major epidemics, other major hot spots emerge, the testing system can become strained again,” Gottlieb said.
Surges in the number of coronavirus cases have made it difficult to assess when schools will be able to reopen.
The White House continues to push schools to reopen in the fall.
On Friday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said children should be able to return to school even if they may be spreading the coronavirus, as IJR previously reported.
The coronavirus has infected more than 4.2 million Americans, and more than 146,000 Americans have lost their lives.
California, Florida, and New York rank as the top three states with the highest number total of coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic.