French virus surge threatens nationwide back-to-school plan

PARIS (AP) — France’s government is admitting that not all classrooms can safely reopen Tuesday as planned. A persistent rise in virus infections is jeopardizing the government’s push to get France’s 12.9 million schoolchildren back into class. Like many governments, France wants to reopen schools to reduce learning gaps worsened by lockdowns and to get parents back at work and revive the economy. But with several thousand new infections now reported in France every day, the education minister said some classes will remain closed when the nationwide reopening begins Tuesday. Britain’s government, meanwhile, is urging parents to send their children back to school despite rising infections in some areas.