Donald Trump, 74, is looking forward to his son Barron, 14, going back to school in a physical setting despite coronavirus cases continuing to increase in some places because he feels the “statistics” have been “great”. The president revealed his thoughts at a press conference from the White House on July 22 after he was asked if he had a “national strategy” for children to return to school safely in the near future. “Yeah, well I am comfortable with that and we do have a national strategy but you know, ultimately it’s up to the governors of the states,” he said at the press conference.
NEW: Pres. Trump tells @jonkarl he'd be comfortable with his son, grandchildren returning to school this fall.
Trump also claims he has a "national strategy" for school re-openings, but does not provide any details: "Ultimately, it's up to the governors." https://t.co/Tg1fUHOQlV pic.twitter.com/JG3Zr2l5kM
— ABC News (@ABC) July 22, 2020
“I think most governors, many governors want the schools to open, I would like to see the schools open, especially when you see statistics like this, we have great statistics on young people and on safety,” he continued. “So we would like to see schools open.” Trump also called the “statistics having to do with children” “very impressive” because they “have very strong immune systems” while explaining he also expects there to be “a booming economy” by the “third quarter” of the year.
Trump’s comments about reopening schools come almost four months after he revealed Barron was “not so unhappy” when schools closed in Mar. due to the coronavirus. “They said, ‘You can’t go to school’ and I wouldn’t say he sat up and complained about it,” he said during a Mar. 30 phone interview with Fox & Friends correspondents Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade. He also said he and his wife Melania, were “working with the school and the school gives lessons through the computers and the other means they have. They have a lot of different means, and all of those kids where Barron [goes to school], they’re learning.”
About a week later, Trump admitted that although Barron was “happy” at home, he wasn’t “as happy as you could be” due to the lockdown. ” He loves soccer and he’s like everyone else, everything’s shut down. He’s in his room,” he said in an Apr. 4 press briefing. “He’d like to be playing sports, Barron.”
Most schools in the U.S. closed in Mar. after coronavirus cases in the country continued to rise. Many graduating seniors had to have virtual graduation ceremonies in May and June because of social distancing rules and school openings in the Fall are still being determined by governors in states across the nation. America’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, 79, spoke about what kids can expect when it comes to school reopenings in the fall when he appeared on Will Smith‘s show Will From Home in Apr. and explained that if there’s an increase in the virus between Aug. and Sept., when schools get back into session, states will be “hesitant” to go back to the way things were.
It’s “totally dependent on what happens on whether or not we get a rebound on the virus or not,” he said on the show. If there’s still a virus that’s lingering around there as we get to a new school season, there are going to be some locations that are, appropriately, going to be hesitant to get the kids back to school. If things look really quiet, not a lot of infections, many locations will be going back to school.”