New York City public schools will begin to reopen with weekly COVID-19
testing
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[November 30, 2020]
By Jonathan Allen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City's public
schools will begin to reopen for in-person learning on Dec. 7, starting
with elementary schools for students whose parents agree to a weekly
testing regimen for the novel coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced on Sunday.
The schools, which make up the country's largest school system, were
closed less than two weeks ago after the citywide rate of coronavirus
tests coming back positive exceeded a 3% benchmark agreed to by the
mayor and the teachers' union.
"It's a new approach because we have so much proof now of how safe
schools can be," de Blasio told reporters, saying the 3% benchmark was
being scrapped and pointing to research that shows young children appear
to be less vulnerable to COVID-19. On Sunday, the city's seven-day
rolling average of positive tests was 3.9%, de Blasio said.
Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, who joined the mayor at a news
conference, said with the new measures he believed the city could
"safely and successfully keep our schools open for the duration of this
pandemic."
Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers,
said in a statement that the labor union was supportive of the mayor's
phased reopening so long as "stringent testing was in place."
New York City, which teaches more than 1.1 million students in its
public schools, was one of the few jurisdictions in the United States to
attempt to reopen schools in the autumn as the country continues to
struggle with the world's deadliest outbreak of the coronavirus, and its
efforts are being widely watched. But it closed classrooms back down in
mid-November, less than eight weeks after they had begun to offer
in-class lessons.
Some New Yorkers were frustrated to see schools close down again while
gyms were allowed to operate and restaurants could offer indoor dining
in most areas under rules enforced by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo,
who has publicly feuded with de Blasio over how best to tamp down the
virus' spread.
"I think that's the right direction," Cuomo said of the mayor's
announcement on a later conference call with reporters. Health experts
said schools "should be kept open whenever it's possible to keep them
open safely," he said.
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A pedestrian walks past Public School 41 following the outbreak of
the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Manhattan borough of New
York City, New York, U.S., September 27, 2020. REUTERS/Jeenah
Moon/File Photo
Pre-kindergarten classes will also reopen Dec. 7 alongside
elementary schools. Schools that serve children with special
educational needs, known as District 75 schools, will reopen Dec.
10. De Blasio said middle schools and high schools would reopen at
later dates that had not yet been set.
Many families had opted for remote learning even as classrooms
reopened in September, but the city also offered "blended" learning,
with students attending in-person classes a few days each week if
they agreed to monthly coronavirus tests.
With the reopening of schools next month, to enter a classroom,
students must have a signed consent form agreeing to coronavirus
testing or a letter of medical exemption from a doctor, de Blasio
said. Tests will be soon be carried out in schools on a weekly, not
monthly, basis, but only about a fifth of students will be tested in
a given week.
The mayor said the plan was to have in-person learning five days a
week where possible when schools reopen.
The governor retains the power to override the city and close
schools in neighborhoods where the test positivity rate surges, de
Blasio noted. The city will also monitor schools' coronavirus test
results, and may close down any individual classrooms or entire
schools where multiple cases are reported.
The United States has reported over 4 million new cases so far in
November and over 35,000 coronavirus-related deaths, according to a
Reuters tally, with more hospitalizations than ever this year and
deaths reaching their highest level in six months.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Additional reporting by Lisa Shumaker;
Editing by Leslie Adler)
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