AP FACT CHECK: Trump team's false comfort on schools, virus

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration is providing misguided assurances on the safety of kids in school during a coronavirus epidemic.

In remarks Sunday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged schools to provide full-time, in-person learning in the fall even with community transmission of COVID-19 rising in many parts of the U.S., suggesting that there is no danger “in any way” if kids are in school.

Her statement is unsupported. Some children have become seriously ill from the virus, and one of Trump's top health experts stresses that data remain incomplete about potential risks they could spread COVID-19 to adults.

Meanwhile, Trump continued to spread falsehoods about how well the U.S. is doing with the coronavirus even as the U.S. is taking a disproportionate hit from it globally and does not have it under control.

A look at recent claims and reality:

SCHOOLS

DEVOS: “There’s nothing in the data that suggests that kids being in school is in any way dangerous.” — interview on “Fox News Sunday."

THE FACTS: That's wrong. Although children are less likely than adults to develop COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has nevertheless counted tens of thousands of infections by the virus in Americans younger than 18. It’s premature to claim that there are no risks “in any way" seen in data. How significant a risk has not been established.

Apart from potential risks to kids, there is also the chance that they would spread the disease to more vulnerable adults, such as teachers, parents and grandparents.

DeVos’ false assurance overlooks severe COVID-19 illnesses and some deaths of children in the U.S., even though kids in general tend to get less sick from it than adults do. Doctors don’t know which children are...