Schools are one of the safest places for children during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield.
His comments came Thursday during a briefing by the White House Coronavirus Task Force. They were detailed in a report by Fox News.
“The infections that we’ve identified in schools when they’ve been evaluated were not acquired in schools,” he said. “They were actually acquired in the community and in the household.
“The truth is, for kids K-12, one of the safest places they can be, from our perspective, is to remain in school, and it’s really important that following the data, making sure we don’t make emotional decisions about what to close and what not to close.
“I’m here to say clearly the data strongly supports that K-12 schools — as well as institutes of higher learning — really are not where we’re having our challenges.”
Redfield again warned against closing schools as a result of any emotional response to the pandemic.
“It would be counterproductive from my point of view, from a public health point of view, just in containing the epidemic, if there was an emotional response, to say, ‘Let’s close the schools,’” he said.
New York City public schools closed Thursday as a result of the coronavirus, forcing students to return to remote learning, according to CBS New York.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said he and the Department of Education are currently working on new standards to reopen the classrooms.