A woman pushes a baby in a pushchair past the entrance to Public School 133 in the Harlem neighborhood of the Manhattan district of New York City, New York, USA.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
World Health Organization officials warned world leaders Monday not to turn the decision to reopen schools “into yet another political football in this game.”
“My fear in this is that we create these political balls that are kicked everywhere,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, at a press conference at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva. . “If we suppress the virus in our society, in our communities, our schools can be safely opened.”
WHO officials noted that current studies show that the coronavirus generally does not make children as sick as adults, but the organization’s research on the impact of Covid-19 on children is “still limited.”
“We know that, in general, they tend to have milder disease, but in some situations they can have severe disease, and we have seen children who have died,” said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, director of the zoonoses and emerging diseases unit. of the WHO.
Ryan added that scientists don’t yet know the long-term effect of coronavirus on children’s health, although they tend to have milder symptoms.
“The fact is that when community transmission exists and when community transmission is intense, children will be exposed to that virus and children will be part of the transmission cycle,” Ryan said.
“They will be exposed, some will become infected and others will be infected,” he said.
In the U.S., health and government officials have been debating whether it is safe to reopen schools this coming fall as the nation experiences a surge in coronavirus cases.
Last week, President Donald Trump increased pressure for public schools to reopen entirely, threatening to withhold federal funds from states that do not reopen their schools.
This is a developing story. Please come back later for updates.
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