Push to reopen schools raises safety concerns

Parents and teachers are pushing back against President Trump's campaign to return students to school amid rapidly rising COVID-19 infections. NBC's Alice Barr reports.

(NBC News) — Dr. Anthony Fauci is urging states with soaring COVID-19 cases to pause their reopening plans and reassess the measures being taken to slow the spread of the virus.

“We went from shutting down to opening up in a way that essentially skipped over all the guide posts. That’s not the way to go,” Dr. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert says.

Meanwhile, President Trump continues to push schools to reopen as early as next month.

“Open our schools. Stop this nonsense. We open our schools,” Mr. Trump says.

Parents and teachers in some hot spots say they will not be going back if the numbers don’t improve.

“I don’t think school should be opening up next month. The numbers here are, they’re crazy,” says Florida mother Amanda Kossina.

The Centers for Disease Control now says it will offer more direction for schools to reopen safely, but will not change its original guidelines that President Trump called too tough and expensive.

It will be expensive to reopen schools safely, many districts are looking to hire more staff so they can have fewer kids in the classroom and on buses as well as buying PPE and cleaning supplies. They are hoping for more federal help in the next coronavirus funding bill.

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