Fauci says a coronavirus treatment before fall semester for students ‘a bridge too far’

“What would you say to the chancellor of the University of Tennessee Knoxville or the principal of a public school about how to persuade parents and students to return to school in August?”

US Senator Lamar Alexander asks White House coronavirus committee member Dr. Anthony Fauci about the prospects of classes for the remainder of 2020.

“In this case that the idea that having treatments available or a vaccine to facilitate the reentry of students into the fall term would be something that would be a bridge too far,” the doctor said.

Fauci says preliminary trials for potential medicines or vaccines used on hospital patients have been promising but he says the process cannot be complete until a student or teacher is guaranteed some version of safety.

“Even at the top speed we’re going, we don’t see a vaccine playing in the ability of students to get back to school this term,” he said.

(AUDIO / PHOTO: United States Senate)