Trump falsely claims kids are ‘ virtually immune’

The president defended his push for schools to reopen this fall, saying the virus will “go away” soon.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump defended his call to reopen schools this fall by claiming children are “virtually immune” from COVID- 19 and that the coronavirus will “go away” soon.

“This thing’s going away – It will go away like things go away,” Trump said during a wide- ranging interview on “Fox & Friends” a day after authorities reported more than 1,000 Americans died of the virus.

Children can catch – and pass on – the coronavirus, doctors have said. The National Education Association has cited that in arguing that reopening schools this fall may maintain spikes in the spread of the virus, which has claimed more than 150,000 American lives.

“This is the magical thinking that has misled us down the road to 155,000 deaths.” Jonathan Reiner

Professor at George Washington University

Trump said as early as February the virus would eventually “disappear,” but the pandemic has accelerated at various points over the past months.

“This is the magical thinking that has misled us down the road to 155,000 deaths,” said Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine at George Washington University.

A study in the publication Science has shown that children under age 14 are between one- third and one- half as likely as adults to contract the virus.

Trump, who has threatened to withhold federal funds from school districts if they don’t reopen, often refers to such studies in urging schools to bring back students.

“The fact is they are virtually immune from this problem,” Trump told Fox & Friends.

Education groups said students can and do get sick, and said the president is playing politics with education and people’s lives.

“Educators want nothing more than to be back in classrooms and on college campuses with our students, but we must do it in a way that keeps students, educators and communities safe,” said a July statement from Lily Eskelsen García, a sixth grade teacher who serves as president of the 3- million- member NEA.