Bill de Blasio calls on schools across the country to reopen: ‘Our kids need it, and they’re suffering’

“Let’s be clear, it’s not just academic loss,” he added, shifting the focus to the devastating effects lockdowns have had on children. “Our kids are suffering emotionally. And if they’re not in school, it’s bad for them. It’s bad for their emotional development. For a lot of kids it’s very, very painful to not have that chance to go to school. And we’ve got to pay more attention to that.”

New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said during an online town hall meeting last week that the suicide rate for students in the nation’s largest city is “rapidly doubling.”

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De Blasio, who has closed New York City schools multiple times since March, promised to put children back in classrooms in September but has received pushback from the teachers unions, which have stridently opposed school reopenings across the country.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study last month concluded that schools can safely reopen with social distancing measures in place.

“I want to be clear. There is increasing data to support that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest teachers need to be vaccinated,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said earlier this month. The White House later walked back the director’s statements.

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Multiple studies in both the United States and across the world have shown that children are at extremely low risk of spreading the virus.

A study in Germany last year showed that children might actually serve as a “brake” to the virus, and a Scottish study in September found that adults who spend a significant amount of time around children are less likely to contract the virus.