Rand Paul calls on Fauci to apologize to schoolchildren

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is calling on Dr. Anthony Fauci to apologize to every school child in America and their parents for not pressing for schools to reopen long before the fall term, when the science already was clear that COVID-19 has little impact on children.

Paul said in an interview Tuesday that the error, leading to many schools across the nation canceling in-person teaching, illustrates the problem with basing public policy on one person or on Washington.

"When one person is so wrong, as Dr. Fauci has been, it has grave effects for millions of school children," he told Fox News' Sandra Smith.

"The evidence has been clear for six months -- evidence from entire countries in Europe and in Asia -- that schools do not lead to a surge, that kids are poor transmitters of this," the senator continued.

"Country-wide studies were showing this six months ago, and he wouldn't listen," said Paul of the White House coronavirus adviser. "I tried to convince him of this. And now he sort of flippantly says, Oh, we're going to let kids go to school, we're just going to close the bars."

Paul said the science behind closing the bars also should be examined.

"Right now we have more lockdowns and more mandates than we've ever had, and yet the incidents of COVID is rising exponentially," he said. "It may argue that none of the things we are doing are are working, and we at least should be honest."

See the interview with Rand Paul:

At a Senate hearing in June, Paul chastised Fauci for equivocating on the issue of sending children back to school.

On Sunday, three months into the school year, Fauci essentially admitted 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 told ABC's "This Week." "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."

At the June Senate hearing, 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 to keep schools closed.

"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":