Fox News presenter David Asman challenged the president of one of Florida’s largest teacher unions during a controversial segment on Tuesday after the group filed a lawsuit to apprehend Governor Ron DeSantis and state education officials for the “reckless and insecure” reopening of schools by classes of people amid increasing cases of coronavirus.
“Let me say this,” Fedrick Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association, told “Your World.” “As the director of the high school gang and speaking on behalf of all public school educators, we want to go back to school. We can’t wait to go back to school. In fact, we miss our children.”
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He continued: “This is what we promised to do … but in the context of more than 350,000 positive cases of COVID, 5,000 deaths and a positivity rate that is still in the 20th percentile, it is unsafe for us. Going back to school in this moment given the circumstances we have. “
Ingram said he would consider reopening schools for in-person classes when the state sees a steady 14-day decline in positive coronavirus cases, which he says is in accordance with the reopening guidelines of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. .
Asman noted that, according to the data, only 30 people under the age of 15 have died of COVID-19 so far, compared to 190 children who die of the flu each year.
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“Now a death is a tragedy. That has to be said. That is absolutely true …” Asman said, “but 190 children die of the flu every year and we don’t close schools because of it. So, do the statistics really does it justify closure? “
Ingram replied: “We do not want to play the truth or dare with any child. We do not want to play duck, goose or musical chairs with any child.”
Asman pushed further, arguing, “So why not shut down the flu then?”
Ingram buckled up in his defense of the lawsuit alleging that the July 6 emergency order requiring all K-12 public schools in the state to allow classes on-site is a violation of the Florida Constitution, as the COVID-19 infections continue to increase throughout the state.
“We have so many unanswered questions that we can’t just say we’re going to hell or at full speed with the opening of schools.”
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He explained that his concerns rest largely between children in multigenerational homes and older teachers who are at higher risk if exposed to the virus.
“We have so many unanswered questions that we can’t just say we’re going to hell or at full speed with the opening of schools,” Ingram said.
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
