New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said public schools would open to students on an ongoing “school-by-school” basis and that he would announce his plan on how to do so next week.
De Blasio abruptly closed public schools again last week after New York City achieved a COVID-19 test positivity rate of 3%.
When he sent over a million kids to fully online classes, de Blasio promised he would have a plan to reopen before the Thanksgiving vacation.
He said on Wednesday he would announce his plan next week.
“We will find a way to overcome this pandemic because we have proven that we can keep schools safe, but we will have to come back in a different way given some of the challenges we are facing with this second wave hanging over us, ”Says de Blasio.
“Next week we will present this plan. It will take a lot of engagement with parents. We will need a lot of help from parents, but we know parents want their children to go back to school. They will be our partners.
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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said public schools would open to students on an ongoing ‘school-by-school’ basis and that he would announce his plan on how to do so next week
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He said when schools reopen, all students should have a consent form ready to undergo testing before entering buildings.
“Each child will need to have a consent form on file because the tests will be more frequent,” he said.
“Right now, the norm in schools is once a month. It will increase. We will determine the exact amount, but it will increase.
Of his plan, de Blasio only said that officials would focus on special education district 75 first before early childhood and elementary levels.
His comments came after hundreds protested outside Mayor Gracie Mansion’s home earlier today, demanding he reveal his plans to reopen the country’s largest public school system.
De Blasio also revealed on Wednesday that more than a million New Yorkers have been tested for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic – the most in any city nationwide.
It comes as cases and hospitalizations in the city and state continue to rise with the onset of cooler weather, which has forced people to return home.
Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has warned that the impending COVID surge is “reminiscent of the bad old days” as he opens a field hospital in Staten Island and reveals he is working on a “winter plan” for fight against the crisis.
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Staten Island has the worst COVID-19 problem in New York City – the test positive rate is over 7% in some zip codes and at least 4% in others
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The state’s test positivity rate is now above 3% and there were 41 deaths from the virus on Tuesday – a decrease from the previous day but a marked increase from the summer months and early in autumn.
Cuomo warned on Tuesday that cases could triple at least over the next three weeks, given the current rate of spread and the holiday season with millions of people traveling for the holidays.
Staten Island has the worst COVID-19 problem in New York City – the test positive rate is over 7% in some zip codes and at least 4% in others. A field hospital has been set up to deal with any excessive spills.
Although Cuomo was convinced the city and state would not be catapulted into the same level of crisis seen in the spring – when more than 18,000 people were in hospitals with COVID in New York State – he urges caution.
In a press conference on Wednesday, he said: “In Staten Island, we have already opened a field hospital.
“I spoke to other governors, they are opening field hospitals.
“It’s reminiscent of the bad old days when you had emergency field hospitals that looked like what you would see in a WWII movie. ”
Cuomo also revealed that the state’s “winter plan” would focus on areas with high infection rates and high hospitalization rates, stressing that the key was to avoid overwhelming the hospital system.
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De Blasio brutally closed public schools again last week after New York City achieved a COVID-19 test positivity rate of 3%
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“You’ll see it ten days after Thanksgiving,” he said of the peak, adding, “We’re starting to develop a winter plan – we’ve dealt with the covid in phases.
“We had a summer phase, an autumn phase and we are going to move to a winter phase.
“The experts advised us to prepare a plan for the winter To give you some aspects of the winter plan, which is December, January February, the first thing we want to do is prioritize the highest infection rates. high with the highest hospitalization rates.
“What’s the biggest fear during COVID? The biggest fear is that you are overwhelming the hospital system and the hospitals cannot keep up. We will be looking seriously at this increase.
“We have a vaccine, but that doesn’t mean the COVID problem is over. It will take months and months before enough vaccine is distributed to solve the problem.
“It will be much more difficult than expected,” he said.
New York state has one of the lowest test positivity rates in the country.
Cuomo said on Wednesday that people entering the state from worst-affected areas would likely increase the positivity rate.
He’s begging New Yorkers – and people in other states – to stay home for Thanksgiving in order to avoid a spike, though he has offered to bring his own daughter from Illinois to New York for dinner with him, and despite the invitation of his 89-year-old son. mother at dinner too.
He has since canceled the invitation, saying it was because he didn’t have time to quarantine himself first and not because critics had called him a hypocrite.
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