Trump, Biden clash as Boston schools become hot topic

The decision to close Boston schools this week to in-person learning as coronavirus cases rise became a hot topic during the final presidential debate Thursday night.

Moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News cited the Hub’s move to online learning as she asked President Trump what his message is to “parents who worry” about sending their children to school and teachers concerned about being put in danger as the pandemic rages on.

“I want to open the schools, the transmittal rate to teachers is very small,” Trump said. “We have to open up our country, or we’re not going to have a country.”

Saying the “cure cannot be worse than the problem itself,” Trump blasted Democratic nominee Joe Biden for wanting to “close down the country.”

Biden hit back that “we ought to be able to safely open” before calling for more financial and public health resources to enable reopenings for businesses and restaurants.

The coronavirus pandemic that’s killed more than 222,000 Americans and infected 8.4 million took center stage at the top of Thursday’s debate in Nashville, Tenn., that marked one of the last major chances for the candidates to appeal to voters and change the trajectory of the race with just 12 days to go before Election Day.

Trump claimed “we have a vaccine coming, it’s ready, it’s going to be announced within weeks.” When pressed, Trump said that timetable is “not a guarantee” but that several companies, including Cambridge-based Moderna, were making progress.

Trump, in his first debate since contracting the coronavirus himself, touted the treatments he received at Walter Reed military hospital, saying, “I was in for a short time and got better very fast.”

But Biden said the president “still has no plan” eight months into the public health crisis.

The former vice president said he would encourage “everyone to wear masks all the time,” move toward rapid testing and implement “national standards” for opening schools and businesses.

As Trump touted his recovery and the high recovery rates among the younger set, Biden shot back, “Learning to live with it? Come on,” Biden said. “We’re dying with it.”

The opening rounds Thursday proved much calmer than the crosstalk chaos that dominated the candidates’ first clash, in part because the debate commission muted the candidates’ microphones while the other spoke during the first two minutes of each segment.

“Please speak one at a time,” Welker said at the outset. “The goal is for you to hear each other and for the American people to hear every word of what you both have to say.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3ohOTTk