For the first March in nearly 2 decades, there were no school shootings across the United States last month.
What should be an encouraging development was also a shocking observation for many online.
Last month was the first March without a school shooting in the United States since 2002
— robertklemko (@RobertKlemko) April 13, 2020
Robert Klemko is an investigative reporter for the Washington Post’s Sports section, who, like many journalists, has pivoted to covering COVID-19 during the coronavirus pandemic. His tweet on April 13 went viral, amassing over 640,000 likes and 150,000 retweets by the next morning.
The report follows the closing of public schools across the country due to the coronavirus pandemic. By the end of the month, all fifty states and some territories had either ordered or recommended the closure of public schools, some through the end of the school year. Many colleges and universities have also followed suit, with some exceptions.
Still, many in the comments made the link between the dropoff in school shootings and the closing of schools.
It only took a global pandemic to close all schools for that to happen…
— Rob McGahen (@rmcgahen) April 13, 2020
On the surface this seems like something to celebrate but idk… America is something else
— Lewis (@ljwr_) April 14, 2020
By September 2019, there had already been twenty-two school shootings during the year…
According to CNN, twenty-two shootings have taken place in American schools so far, with the most recent being in Alaska in July, in which a teenager was shot during a fight at the basketball court of Williwaw Elementary school.
“It shouldn’t take a pandemic.”
