August 7, 2020/Media

Mike Pence Came to an NC School to Tout its Reopening Plan. Now Students are Quarantining.

According to ABC News, fourth graders at a North Carolina school whose sister campus was visited by Vice President Mike Pence last week have been asked to quarantine for 14 days after a student tested positive for coronavirus.

Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos visited a Thales Academy campus in-person last week as part of a push for reopening schools despite concerns from health experts who claim reopening too soon will only exacerbate the spread of the virus.

“We’re here today because to open up America, we’ve got to open up America’s schools and Thales Academy is literally in the forefront,” Pence said while visiting the school last week. North Carolina’s COVID-19 death toll exceeded 2,000 this week, with a confirmed case total of more than 130,000.

NCDP Communications Director Austin Cook released the following statement:

“This administration continues to show a jaw-dropping disregard for health guidelines aimed at stopping the spread of this virus. North Carolina’s COVID-19 death toll just surpassed 2,000, and instead of providing us with the supplies and equipment our health workers still need, Donald Trump and Mike Pence are trying to bully schools into fully reopening without safety precautions in place and in spite of surging case numbers across the country. What they’re advocating for is short-sighted, dangerous, and politically motivated.”