Dr. Anthony Fauci says keeping schools shut down for so long amid COVID "was not a good idea"

Dr. Anthony Fauci is reflecting on some of the actions taken in response to the COVID pandemic, including school closures, which have led to a learning loss across the country. 

The initial closure was not a mistake, he said Tuesday on "CBS Mornings," but questions the length schools were kept shut. 

"Shutting down everything immediately — and we didn't shut it down completely — but essentially major social distancing and even schools was the right thing," Fauci said. "How long you kept it was the problem, because there was a disparity throughout the country. If you go back and look at the YouTube, I kept on saying, 'Close the bars, open the schools. Open the schools as quickly and as safely as you possibly can.' But initially to close it down was correct. Keeping it for a year was not a good idea."

New York City high schools, for example, reopened in March 2021 after many had been closed for more than a year. Months later, in September that year, all schools reopened in the nation's largest school district, meaning more than a million New York City students returned to in-person learning.