Barron Trump's school may not reopen due to coronavirus despite president calling for others to open

The private Maryland school will make a final decision between on-line classes and a hybrid model the week of 10 August

The private school attended by Donald Trump's son Barron may only partially reopen, or not reopen at all, even as the president threatened to withhold coronavirus relief funding from public campuses that remain closed.

St Andrew's Episcopal School released an update saying they were considering either continuing virtual distance learning or implementing a hybrid model when the school year resumes in September.

Mr Trump said this week that he would be "comfortable" sending his 14-year-old son, Barron, and school-age grandchildren back to school this fall, saying that kids "have very strong immune systems".

In announcing $105 billion for schools under the next coronavirus relief package this week, Mr Trump said if schools do not reopen then funding should go towards sending children to schools of their choice.

"Online learning has never been an effective replacement for in-person learning and support. Being at the school, being on the campus is very important," Mr Trump said.

St Andrews' head of school, Robert Kosasky, said non-binding surveys would be sent to parents -- presumably including the president -- on their intentions of sending students to class if they partially reopen.

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"We are hopeful that in September most of our students will be able to return to on-campus learning and relationships," Mr Kosasky said in a statement.

"As we prepare to make a decision the week of August 10 about how to best begin the school year, we will continue to follow guidance of appropriate health officials and refine both our hybrid and distance learning plans."

Under the CDC's new guidelines released this week, schools may adopt a hybrid approach in which some students learn in-person while others learn online.

If adopted, the hybrid model at St Andrew's would see students in years seven to 12 rotating between online and in-person classes on a weekly basis, while students in year six and below would be on-site daily.

At a White House media briefing on Friday, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that schools were an essential business and that teachers are essential personnel like doctors, meat packers and journalists.

"Based on current data the rate of infection among younger school children, and from students to teachers, has been low, especially if proper precautions are followed," Ms McEnany said.

"That being said, even if there is transmission, and later studies come out let's say, we believe that students should be going back to school because the effect on a child, we know scientifically, they are not affected in the same way as an adult. "

White House coronavirus coordinator Dr Deborah Birx said earlier on Friday that whether children under 10 spread the virus at the same rate as children over 10 was an "open question" that needed to be studied.

"We know that children under 18 are less sick, but there are some that suffer terrible consequences if they have underlying conditions," Ms Birx said during an interview on Today.

"We certainly know from other studies that children under 10 do get infected, it's just unclear how rapidly they spread the virus."