Trump vows to ‘pressure’ states into reopening schools despite coronavirus surges

President Trump threatened Tuesday to strong-arm governors reluctant to let students return to their classrooms, declaring “it’s time” to reopen all schools in the fall no matter what despite the worsening coronavirus pandemic.

Trump delivered the aggressive ultimatum during a roundtable event at the White House, as the virus continued to resurge in dozens of states and the national COVID-19 death toll soared above 130,000.

“We’re very much going to put pressure on the governors and the schools to reopen. Open your schools in the fall,” said Trump, who was flanked by state and federal officials as well as students who sat close together despite not wearing face masks.

It’s unclear what pressure Trump could exert as it relates to schooling, since governors have wide discretion on such matters.

Many states, including New York, are holding off on making final decisions on the fall semester, as the virus rebounds across most parts of the country. More than 30 states are seeing coronavirus infection and hospitalization rates skyrocket, especially ones that rushed to reopen their economies at Trump’s urging, like Florida, Arizona and Texas.

A number of governors have said schools in their states may reopen on a “hybrid” basis this fall, in which traditional classroom learning would be combined with online courses.

But Trump said that’s “the easy way out” and singled out Harvard University for particular scorn over its announcement that nearly all fall classes will be taught remotely.

“They ought to be ashamed of themselves,” he said of the Ivy League school.

The president said younger individuals statistically don’t suffer much from the virus and that reopening schools thereby wouldn’t cause harm.

“This is a disease that’s a horrible disease, but young people do extraordinarily well,” he said.

But public health experts, including Trump’s own coronavirus task force adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, have noted children can still spread the virus to other individuals and family members even if they’re not experiencing symptoms.