Gottlieb: Schools should try to open in fall if coronavirus isn’t widespread in their area

Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Thursday that schools “should at least make an attempt to open” in September if the coronavirus is not widespread in their communities. 

“This is really going to depend on what’s happening in the states and localities, and it’s really too early to say what September is going to look like,” Gottlieb said in an interview with CNBC. “I do think we’re going to have to contend with COVID going into the fall, but it might not be in September, it might occur later into the fall, and we should at least make an attempt to open the schools if this isn’t spreading widely.” 

Gottlieb said the call on reopening will depend on what’s happening in each region and state, most of which have moved to online learning for the rest of the academic year.

“I don’t think this is a national-level decision at this point,” he said. 

Gottlieb’s comments come one day after President Trump called for schools to be reopened quickly, pushing back on a warning made by the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, on the dangers of lifting coronavirus restrictions too soon. 

Fauci, a leading member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, told senators during a hearing Tuesday that lifting coronavirus restrictions too soon could lead to a surge in COVID-19 cases. 

“I was surprised by his answer, actually,” Trump later told reporters at the White House. “It’s just, to me it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools.”

In an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, Trump said “we have to get the schools open.” 

“Now, we want to do it safely, but we also want to do it as quickly as possible. We can’t keep going on like this … You’re having bedlam already in the streets, you can’t do this. We have to get it open. I totally disagree with him [Fauci] on schools,” the president said in the interview.