by Damjan Tutarkov
LaCorte News
Billionaire Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates said Tuesday that young children should return to school this fall despite the coronavirus pandemic, claiming with proper safety measures in place, the benefits of this decision will “outweigh the costs.”
Gates weighed in on the issue in a Tuesday interview with CNBC, saying children younger than 13 should return to school “in almost every location” in the country.
“I’m a big believer that for young children, the benefits in almost every location — particularly if you can protect the teachers well — the benefits outweigh the costs,” he said.
“As you get up to age, like, 13 and higher, then you’ll have to look at your locale to decide what you’ll do with high schools. And if they’re not in, then you have to put massive effort into trying to get there to be continued learning online,” Gates said, adding that there’s a good chance for a “substantial reduction” in the death rate in the coming months.