White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany ripped in to the media for ignoring science and continuing to push a political agenda to keep the nation’s schools closed.
On Thursday, McEnany said “science should not stand in the way” of reopening schools, but later said that “science was on our side.”
A reporter asked during Thursday’s press conference, “Well, you talked about earlier the school districts, but we’re seeing more school districts, at least in Virginia, for example, last night, deciding to go online only. What does the president say to parents out there, who are now going, OK, what do I do with my kids?”
Kayleigh McEnany replied, “Yeah, the president has said unmistakably that he wants schools to open, and I was just in the oval talking to him about that. And when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school.”
“The science should not stand in the way of this, and as Dr. Scott Atlas said, I thought this was a good quote,” she continued. “Of course, we can do it.”
When the media tried to spin that McEnany was somehow dismissing science, the White House was quick to respond.
‘The science is on our side here’
“Everyone else in the Western world, our pure nations are doing it,” McEnany said on Thursday. “We are the outlier here. The science is very clear on this.”
The White House press secretary went on, “For instance, you look at the JAMA Pediatric study of 46 pediatric hospitals in North America that said the risk of critical illness from COVID is far less for children than that of seasonal flu.”
“The science is on our side here,” she said. “And we encourage for localities and states to just simply follow the science, open our schools.”
“It’s very damaging to our children,” McEnany added. “There is a lack of reporting of abuse. There’s mental depressions that are not addressed, suicidal ideations that are not addressed when students are not in school.”
“Our schools are extremely important,” she finished. “They’re essential, and they must reopen.”
