Fauci finally admits children rarely spread COVID-19

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, addresses his remarks at a roundtable on donating plasma Thursday, July 30, 2020, at the American Red Cross-National Headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Official White House photo by Tia Dufour)

White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci famously dueled with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., last summer over whether or not children should go back to school in the fall.

Paul chastised Fauci for equivocating, arguing children rarely transmit COVID-19.

Now, three months into the school year, Fauci essentially is admitting that Paul was right.

"If you look at the data, the spread among children and from children is not very big at all, not like one would have suspected," Fauci said told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "So let's try to get the kids back and try to mitigate the things that maintain and push the kind of community spread we are trying to avoid."

During a Senate hearing in June, Paul argued the science indicates it's safe to return to school, and the consequences otherwise are enormous.

"If we keep kids out of school for another year, what's going to happen is the poor and underprivileged kids who don’t have a parent that’s able to teach them at home are not going to learn for a full year," Paul argued. "I think it’s a huge mistake if we don’t open the schools in the fall.

If you have just 2 minutes to spare... watch this right now. Rand Paul takes it to Dr. Fauci. Get kids back to school. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/enNz4DVoHd

— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) June 30, 2020

"Dr. Fauci, every day we seem to hear from you things we can't do," Paul said. "But when you're asked, 'Can we go back to school,' I don't hear much certitude at all. 'Well, maybe.' 'It depends.' Guess what? It’s rare for kids to transmit this. I don’t hear that coming from you. All I hear is, 'We can’t do this, we can’t do that, we can’t play baseball,'" Paul in the June hearing.

President Trump, meanwhile, pushed back on the insistence of Democrats, the media and teacher's unions.

"We have to open our schools. Open our schools. Stop this nonsense," Trump said Sept. 10. "It's only political nonsense. They don't want to open because they think it will help them on November 3rd. I think it will hurt them on November 3rd."

See Fauci's remarks Sunday on "This Week":