Deaths from COVID in the US exceed 250,000; New York returns to homeschooling

By Gabriella Borter and Brendan O’Brien

NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) – The death toll in the U.S. from COVID-19 surpassed 250,000 on Wednesday, a grim new milestone that comes on the same day that New York City’s public school system, the largest in the nation, called for face-to-face classes to be paralyzed due to the increase in infection rates.

The decision to close schools and return exclusively to telematics teaching as of this Thursday came as state and local authorities across the country reimpose restrictions for the winter in an attempt to curb COVID infections and hospitalizations. 19.

But eight months after New York City became the first major focus of the epidemic in the US, which saturated hospitals and emptied the streets of the metropolis, the epicenter of the health crisis has moved to the upper part of the Midwest.

In Minnesota, one of several states in the area with the highest per capita contagion rates, Governor Tim Walz ordered the closure of all restaurants, bars, gyms and entertainment venues, as well as the cancellation of all events of youth sports, for four weeks.

More than 90% of hospital intensive care unit beds are already occupied in the eastern half of the state, Walz said in an evening briefing, adding: “We are at a dangerous point in this pandemic.”

The decision to close New York schools, announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio via Twitter, was undoubtedly a relief to some teachers, many of whom have expressed fear of being exposed to the new coronavirus.

New York City has seen the virus resurface since late fall, following the hiatus it experienced in the summer. Schools have followed a blended learning system since September, with 1.1 million students dividing their school week between learning in the classroom and at home.

But de Blasio said that the entire day would be telematic again because the positive rate of coronavirus tests in the city had risen to an average of 3% for seven days, the threshold for interrupting face-to-face classes.

“We must fight the second wave of COVID-19,” he said.

New York joins other large school districts in cities like Boston and Detroit, which have recently canceled face-to-face classes. Last week, the Clark County school district, which includes the city of Las Vegas and is the fifth-largest in the United States, and the Philadelphia public school system, postponed their plans to return to face-to-face classes.

(Information from Gabriella Borter and Brendan O’Brien in New York; additional information from Anurag Maan, Susan Heavey, and Maria Caspani; written by Gabriella Borter and Steve Gorman; edited by Bill Tarrant, Cynthia Osterman and Peter Cooney; translated by Andrea Ariet in Gdansk)

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