Schools need to open when they can, but safety comes first, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday.
“The default position should be to try as best as you possibly can to open up the schools in-person learning for the follow reasons: it’s important for the children, because of the psychological benefit, and in some cases, even for the nutrition — children who rely on the breakfasts and the lunches in school for proper nutrition,” Fauci said at a briefing with Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont Monday.
“Number two, there are important, negative downstream effects that are unintended but can occur, of a ripple effect on the parents, who have to dramatically modify their own work schedule, when you keep children at home,” Fauci added.
“Having said that, there’s a big however there. And that however is the primary consideration should always be the safety, the health of the welfare of the children, as well as the teachers and the secondary effects for spreading [to] the parents and other family members,” he said.