As has been the case since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Democrats and the national media are insisting that the only thing there is for us to do is lock ourselves indoors and wait for some magic vaccine that may or may not ever come.
In an interview Sunday on CNN, Dana Bash repeatedly asked Education Secretary Betsy DeVos why the administration was pressuring K-12 schools to open when it very well might lead to more transmissions.
DeVos said over and over again that it’s not an option to stunt the development of young children and that all schools would need to come up with solutions to reopening their doors in the safest ways possible.
“What we’re saying is that kids need to be back in school and that school leaders across the country need to be making plans to do just that,” she said. “There’s going to be the exception to the rule, but the rule should be that kids go back to school this fall, and where there are little flare-ups or hot spots, that can be dealt with on a school-by-school or a case-by-case basis.”
There’s nothing unclear about this; nor is it unreasonable. Administrators are being instructed to open their schools with safety precautions for teachers, staff, and students alike. Should there be some circumstances, including high transmission rates or new spikes in cases of the virus, individual schools can work with the federal government to address that.
But Bash had an endless series of questions: Would the Trump administration issue a specific plan for all schools to follow? Can DeVos be sure that reopening is 100% safe? Bash also hilariously asked DeVos to answer “yes or no” if she could “assure students, teachers, parents that they will not get coronavirus because they’re going back to school?”
This would be like asking your boss for a promise that someone won’t come and shoot up the office today.
No, of course not. How could anyone promise that?
Then I’m sorry, I’ll just have to stay home. Thanks!
I get it. Democrats have made it their position that no part of life can resume until we’ve made it to the point where no one dies of the virus.
That’s impossible, but never mind the millions of lives this would destroy, anyway, and the people it would literally kill. As long as the economy struggles before November, Democrats won’t be the ones to suffer the political consequences. They can afford to call for the world to stop spinning.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos calls on schools to reopen despite CDC guidelines that say children meeting in groups can put everyone at risk: “There is going to be the exception to the rule. But the rule should be that kids go back to school this fall” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/UPuYa7wGwo
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) July 12, 2020
The fact is, most parents rely on schools being open so that they can work normal hours. Very few of those parents are equipped to guide their children through five days per week of virtual learning, especially while holding down their own day jobs.
DeVos is telling school administrators to face reality and reopen in the way that makes most sense for them in their particular area. This will be difficult but not impossible, even as people such as Bash come up with every reason to say that it can’t be done.
