Trump asks schools not to wait for coronavirus vaccine before reopening

Speaking via tweet, Trump said that "Schools in our country should be opened ASAP. Much very good information now available."

In the tweet, he tagged pundit Steve Hilton and Fox News, which aired Hilton's comments on the inability for there to be an economic recovery without the reopening of schools.

Hilton had gone on Fox to encourage the country to reopen its educational infrastructure. "Get on with it and reopen schools now before you do even more needless damage."

Dr. Anthony Fauci has said that "The idea of having treatments available, or a vaccination, to facilitate the reentry of students into the fall term would be something that would be a bit of a bridge too far."

He went on to say that "We're really not talking about treating a student who gets ill, but how the student will feel safe in going back to school. If this was a situation where we had a vaccine, that would be the end of that issue, in a positive way. But even at the top speed we're going, we don't see a vaccine playing in the ability of individuals to get back to school this term."

New York City, which has been the epicentre of the American outbreaks, has had its schools closed since March 16. After some infighting between New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, it was determined that the city's schools would stay closed through the end of term.

As has Washington DC Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, who said "...students should return to campuses on modified schedules, switching between in-person and distance learning depending on the day. Even if schools can accommodate them, families should not be required to send their children to school buildings — and will have the option of distance learning — if they feel unsafe."

Additionally, de Blasio has indicated that there could be good reasons not to reopen the classroom to New York's 1.1 million school children in the fall. Additionally, the city's school chancellor, Richard Carranza, issued a letter to New York City school families that said summer school would be done through virtual learning.

Recently, the situation with church closures in the US in which the governors' and local leaders' insistence on keeping churches closed led Trump to announce that they should all be allowed to reopen. It is unclear whether this tweet on school reopenings will have a similar effect.

Economists like Hilton believe that the economy will not be able to come back unless schools reopen, as working parents need somewhere for their children to go. It's also true that an undereducated populace will not be good for long term economic stability.