NYC Schools to Be Open Tuesday as Positive Covid Rate Inches Up
NYC Schools to Be Open Tuesday as Positive Covid Rate Inches Up
(Bloomberg) --
New York City schools will be open Tuesday as the citywide positive-test rate for Covid-19 remains below a 3% shutdown trigger, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
The seven-day average positivity rate was 2.74% on Wednesday, prompting de Blasio to warn parents that schools might be closed. The rate dipped over the weekend, allowing schools to open Monday. The latest average is 2.77%, de Blasio said at a press briefing.
“We’ve got a fight ahead to keep them open,” the mayor said.
New York City has performed more than 300,000 Covid-19 tests in the past week. The seven-day average of new cases has jumped to more than 1,000, which is “very worrisome,” de Blasio said.
About 300,000 of the city’s 1.1 million public-school students are participating in a blended program of in-class and remote learning. De Blasio said the 3% threshold was done “to give people confidence” that children would be safe.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has said he’s not going to overrule the 3% trigger, but urged the city, teachers and parents to consider amending that plan.
“The infection rate in the schools is much lower than the rest of the city and the rest of the community,” Cuomo said Monday on MSNBC. “Why not leave the children in the schools rather than have them around run around the streets where the infection rate is five times as high?”
The latest daily number of people admitted to city hospitals for Covid symptoms is 92, with 44% testing positive, de Blasio said. At the height of the outbreak earlier this year, three out of four people admitted tested positive.
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