Transcript
As the US nears 3-million recorded Covid-19 cases and the death toll tops over 130-thousand, President Trump is urging schools to reopen.
During an event Tuesday Trump was very clear he wants the country back open and to stay that way saying “we’ll never close.”
When asked how to go about reopening schools safely Trump said he’ll be putting pressure on governors across the country to make sure schools are reopen this fall.
That’s despite the fact that the coronavirus outbreak is surging in more than 30 states.
CDC Director Robert Redfield is backing the president’s call saying the CDC encourages all schools to do what they need to do to reopen.
And that schools should have plans to anticipate that classes will “in fact occur.”
Monday Florida’s State Commissioner of the Department of Education announced that it is requiring all schools to reopen in August.
The CDC plans to release reopening guidelines next week.
But Wednesday Trump said the CdC’s guidelines are “very tough” and “expensive.”
And threatened to cut off funding to schools that do not reopen, though the bulk of school funding comes from state and local governments.
Meanwhile thousands of international students pursuing higher education in US may have to leave the country or risk deportation if their colleges go to online-only classes.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made the announcement Monday.
ICE said the move will affect students who fall under certain visas and added that the US Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools that are fully online for the fall semester.
Coming to the US to take online-only courses has been prohibited.
But many of these foreign students came from countries that prohibit travel from the states due to the pandemic which could make returning home a challenge.
Posted – 7.8.2020