Atlanta Mayor: “I do not trust this president with [my children’s] lives”

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Democrat Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, speaking both as a public official and a mother, slammed President Donald Trump’s plan to reopen the schools in the fall amid a surge of coronavirus cases in the US
• California Representative Katie Porter, another Democrat, also echoed Bottom’s remarks, saying that the lives of the children and teachers are “at stake” on Trump’s reopening.
• The White House has been widely criticized by Democrats on its push to reopen the schools.

Speaking both as a public official and a mother, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms denounced President Donald Trump’s plan to reopen the schools in the fall amid the continuous spike of COVID-19 cases in the country.

“As a mother of four children I do not trust this president with their lives,” Bottoms said during a call with reporters on Monday.

Her family is one “prime example” of what could be the consequence if children would be sent back into “unsafe classrooms,” Bottoms said. One of her four children had contracted COVID-19 but was asymptomatic.

“As we contemplate sending our children back into school this is what our teachers, our custodians, our bus drivers and so many others in schools will face — children who are asymptomatic who may unintentionally infect those who don’t have the ability ward off this virus,” the democrat mayor explained.

“This is what our workers in our schools will face when we send our children back into schools this fall,” Bottoms added. 

Both Bottoms and her husband also tested positive for COVID-19. She was asymptomatic but her husband experienced pain which she described as “nothing short of astonishing.”

Aside from Bottoms, California Representative Katie Porter, another democrat, spoke to media on the Monday call with Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez. 

Also giving sentiments as a lawmaker and a mother, Porter echoed Bottom’s criticism on Trump’s plan of pushing the school reopening. Porter said her three children, ages 8, 12, and 14, were enrolled in a public school in Irvine.

“I want to be clear about what’s at stake here: Children and teachers will get the virus. They will bring it home to their families, they will spread it to other community … some will get sick and some are going to die,” she said. 

“It’s an absolute failure of leadership to send kids and teachers back into a classroom without so much as a sticky note checklist on how to keep them safe, much less detailed plan.” 

According to Porter, Trump’s administration’s drive was a “death sentence” rather than a plan.

The California lawmaker lambasted the White House for wasting months of opportunity on creating a strategy to safely reopen schools when the academic year starts.

Perez said that the president’s assertion to reopen schools was a political move that could boost his presidential bid.

The White House has been widely criticized by Democrats on its push to reopen schools. It even warned the schools that their funding would be suspended if they will not offer face-to-face teaching services.

Source: The Hill