Donald Trump and his administration have been demanding that schools reopen in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic as it ravages large swaths of the country — often using the argument that millions of children rely on schools to provide them with the nutrition they otherwise do not get at home.
“Thirty million American students rely on schools for free and reduced meals,” Trump said at a July 23 news conference, listing off one of the reasons he wants kids to go back to school even as schools struggle with finding the space and the resources to safely reopen for full-time in-person learning.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also listed nutritional needs as a reason for full school reopening in a document Trump demanded from the government health agency. Continue reading.