US SCHOOL RESUMPTION

The U.S. is engulfed in intense debate between elected officials and public health experts over how to bring children back safely to schools, despite a surge in coronavirus cases, according to The New York Times.

In its briefing report, the paper said that President Trump has openly rebuffed guidelines issued by the U.S. disease control agency that outline safety measures for the return to classes in September. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday announced that the agency would issue new recommendations.

Mr. Trump pointed out that elsewhere in the world, schools had reopened without issue. But in other countries, like Germany, children returned to classes after the virus was brought under control.

In higher education, a Trump administration move to strip international students of their visas was seen as a way to pressure universities to drop their careful approaches to managing coronavirus transmission and reopen.

The U.S. now has more than 3 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus and more than 131,000 deaths, by far the world’s largest outbreak.