Record number of new Covid-19 cases reported to WHO over the past 24 hours
It’s not a good idea to force all teachers to come back and teach in person, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday.
Some districts in the US are requiring all teachers go back to the classroom unless they have a doctor’s note. Fauci said school districts really need to listen to the concerns of teachers, especially those who are entering into the “elderly” demographic.
“There aren’t a lot elderly people that don’t have at least one underlying condition,” Fauci said at a Kahn Academy online event about opening schools.
“So, I think when you talk about forcing teachers to come back to school, you better be careful about that and make sure you pay attention to keeping them safe, and keeping them healthy.”
School officials need to look at rates of coronavirus transmission in their communities and before deciding about in-person instruction, he said.
“If I was superintendent, I would look at where my district was, what the risk is, and I’d fashion the process of getting kids back to school based on that estimation,” Fauci said.
Fauci said scientists still need to do more research to fully understand if children get as easily infected as adults. A large study underway at the National Institutes of Health should give more answers to that question by the end of December. Earlier, Fauci told a Washington Post Live event that new CDC guidelines on reopening schools were sound.
