Florida Government stated if Walmart and Home Depot are open, schools must reopen as well

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis |

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stated if Walmart and Home Depot are open, schools should reopen as well. 

"We spent months saying that there were certain things that were essential -- that included fast-food restaurants, it included Walmart, it included Home Depot."

"If fast food and Walmart and Home Depot -- and look, I do all that, so I'm not looking down on it -- but if all that is essential, then educating our kids is absolutely essential."

"I have no doubt we can do this safely," DeSantis said. 

"I want our kids to be able to minimize this education gap that I think has developed." 

DeSantis strongly disagrees and stated that online learning is "just not the same." As many others are worried, the government encourages students to be educated and believes that kids are not being able to socialize by missing out on activities.

According to data provided by Johns Hopkins, the record shows that Florida has become a new hotspot for the virus, with the state reporting more than 230,000 cases.

Although it is important to educate students, teachers and local school officials have raised concerns about reopening in the fall especially due to an increased chance. 

"Right now it's irresponsible to talk about how, if schools will reopen in the fall for Florida. Right now we need to be talking about how we get this virus under control, how do we keep schools and our communities safe."

The Orange County Classroom Teachers Association said in a statement this week. "While we know that face-to-face learning is optimal, CTA will not support a reopening plan that could expose students, teachers, or their families to illness, hospitalization or death."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said last week that reopening schools depends on the "dynamics of the outbreak" where the school is located.

The CDC has guidelines about the opening of schools at various stages of those checkpoints. The basic fundamental goal would be as soon as you possibly can to get the children back to school and to use public health as a tool to help get children back to school."

According to CNN, in May, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines for schools to safely reopen that included placing desks 6 feet apart and children using cloth face coverings. 

Existing CDC guidance also includes temporary school dismissal if there are confirmed cases of Covid-19 at the school or substantial transmission within the community. '

Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America" a reporter stated the guidelines for reopening schools would not be revised, but additional reference documents would be provided.