COVID Infection Rate Hovers Under 3%, So Schools Can Stay Open, At Least Until Tomorrow

By Yehudit Garmaise 

 Although last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that the 1,700 public schools could close today and pivot to fully remote learning if the city’s seven-day infection rate exceeded 3% over the weekend, today, the seven-day average stood at 2.77%, and so schools will stay open, at least for today.

   “We are in the middle of something really tough right now, and we see such painful realities all over the country,” the mayor said this morning at his daily press conference. And New York City continues to be strong, and New Yorkers continue to do the right thing, such as continuing to come out for COVID testing, wearing face coverings, keeping socially distance, not travelling, or meeting with more than 10 people at a time.”

   Although the mayor has focused the 3% COVID positivity rate as a threshold that he reached with the United Federation of Teachers, the city’s teachers’ union, on Friday, Governor Cuomo suggested that instead of the mayor focusing on a citywide rate, he would consider looking at the infection rates of individuals schools to determine whether schools should remain open.

   “I would like to see schools be open, and I would be open to a different, more sophisticated calculation in which we don’t just look at the infection rates of New York City or Erie county, but we look at the infection rates in the schools. And I would ask the parents, the mayor, and teacher to consider that.”

  On Friday, Gov. Cuomo also reiterated many health experts’ point that schools are not sites that tend to spread the coronavirus.

  “You know the places of spreading are bars, restaurant, gyms, and mass gatherings, and new problem of indoor house gatherings,” said Gov. Cuomo, who set a 10pm curfew for bars, restaurants, and gyms that started on Friday night.

   Many European countries, however, have shown an opposite set of priorities, by completely closing bars, restaurants, and gyms, while keeping their schools open.

   In addition, this morning, New York City Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza reported extensively on how the principals and teachers are heroically scrambling to switch on a dime to remote learning, he also said, “Nothing can replace the magic that happens in a classroom when a caring, well-trained adult is teaching.”

  In addition, most public school parents and teachers report that online learning has minimal effectiveness, especially for the younger grades, where COVID positivity rates have been shown to be minimal.

  The mayor has said that if the city reaches the 3% threshold, he will close the schools “for just a few weeks.”

Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.