MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough said Wednesday that teachers employed in the nation’s third largest school district switching to remote learning over COVID should “just stay at home and stop teaching children.”
The Chicago Teachers Union voted Tuesday to switch to remote learning until Jan. 18, which led to canceled classes for the city’s 330,000 students, USA Today reported. After the union vowed to strike against the school district if in-person learning returned after winter break, 73% of teachers voted in favor of remote learning.
“If you don’t want to teach, don’t teach. Quit,” Scarborough said. “Just stay at home and stop teaching children. When you set up that barrier to getting back to class when healthcare officials say that you can still be testing positive thirty days after, well you obviously, if that’s your standard you’re either ignorant when it comes to science or you just don’t want to be in classes.”
“And if you don’t want to be in classes, that’s fine. Listen, thank you for your service to our children. Now, go get another job.”
“If you don’t want to teach, don’t teach. Quit. Just stay at home and stop teaching children, okay? … You are either ignorant when it come to science or you just don’t want to be in classes.”
— @JoeNBC on Chicago teachers voting for switch to remote learning amid Omicron surge pic.twitter.com/2FOXVcddLd
— The Recount (@therecount) January 5, 2022
Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the vote “an illegal work action” at a Tuesday press conference and said teachers that do not show up to work Wednesday will not receive a paycheck, according to the outlet. (RELATED: ‘I’m Sorry If Politicians Are Afraid Of Teacher’s Unions’: Joe Scarborough Goes Off On School Re-Opening Pushback)
Describing the union’s vote as a “walkout,” Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said the schools will provide COVID-19 testing, meals and other essential services to students, the outlet reported.
Chicago witnessed a 12% rise in COVID-19 cases in comparison to the previous week with a current daily average of 4,775 cases and a 22% increase in hospitalizations, according to city data. The city’s COVID-19 deaths have dropped nine percent in comparison to the previous week.
At least 71.8% of the city’s population have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the data showed.
White House senior medical advisor Anthony Fauci admitted that many hospitalized COVID-positive children are admitted for reasons unrelated to the virus during a Dec. 30 appearance on the Rachel Maddow show. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in September that less than one percent of children hospitalized for COVID-19 resulted in death.