ALBANY,
N.Y. (AP) — New York’s schools and colleges will remain shut through
the end of the academic year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov.
Andrew Cuomo said Friday.
The
order, which applies to 4.2 million students statewide, continues a
shutdown that had been set to expire May 15. The Democratic governor
said it is simply too risky to reopen when the virus is still sending
nearly 1,000 people into the hospital every day.
“We
don’t think it’s possible to do that in a way that would keep our
children and students and educators safe, so we’re going to have the
schools remain closed for the rest of the year, we’re going to continue
the distance learning programs,” Cuomo said.
“We must protect our children,” he said. “Every parent and citizen feels that.”
A
decision about whether to allow summer school inside classroom
buildings will be deferred until the end of May, he said. Whenever
schools are allowed to reopen, each district’s plan would need state
approval. A decision about whether summer camps will be allowed to
operate will also be made later.
The
state’s largest school district, in New York City, had already
determined it could not reopen before the scheduled end of the school
year in June.
Mayor
Bill de Blasio announced April 11 that the city would rely on remote
learning through the end of the school year. At the time, Cuomo
dismissed de Blasio’s announcement as an “opinion,” saying the governor
had the power to make decisions on a statewide basis.
Education
officials said they welcomed Cuomo’s announcement Friday. Robert
Schneider, executive director of the New York State School Boards
Association, said it would not be safe to open schools without knowing
how to safely transport students and put in place social distancing and
other safeguards.
“Clearly,
schools are not ready to open for classroom learning, and they won’t be
until we can adequately protect our students and staff,” Schneider said
in a written statement.
Schools
nationwide are evaluating whether they will keep the institutions
closed, and potentially even continue remote learning in the fall.
Cuomo
made the announcement at his daily coronavirus briefing, which also
included updated fatality and infection numbers. Cuomo said 289 people
died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, on Thursday, down
from 306 the day before.
Other coronavirus-related developments in New York:
____
LAST PATIENTS LEAVE JAVITS
The
last patients left New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention center on
Friday after a total of 1,095 patients were treated at the convention
center as the coronavirus ravaged the city during the month of April.
Dr. Chris Tanski, the chief medical officer at the Javits Center, said the last eight patients left Friday afternoon.
Military
personnel including the Army Corps of Engineers turned the massive,
glass-walled facility on the Hudson River into a field hospital as part
of an effort to relieve the strain on the city’s hospital system posed
by the unprecedented coronavirus outbreak.
“We
were able to offload some of the volume from the hospitals,” said
Tanski, a doctor at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse who was part
of a federal disaster response task force helping New York treated
COVID-19 patients.
_____
WHO ARE THE NEWLY HOSPITALIZED?
The
daily count of patients who enter hospitals across the state for
treatment of COVID-19 has been hovering around 900 to 1,000, a number
that is down from more than 3,000 at the beginning of April but is still
troubling, Cuomo said.
“That
is still too high a number of new cases to have every day,” said Cuomo,
who said he will ask hospitals to start reporting details about newly
infected New Yorkers such as where they work, how they commute, and
demographic information such as age and gender.
”Literally
where do new cases come from?” Cuomo said. “Are they essential workers?
Are they people who are staying at home and getting infected by a
family member? Or are they essential workers who are still traveling and
possibly getting infected at work? Where do they work, how do they
commute?”
Cuomo
said the information will let the state come up with a tailored battle
plan to reduce new daily hospitalizations that are still a burden on the
health care system.
“Let’s
drill down on those 1,000 new cases,” he said. “Where are they coming
from? Why is the infection rate continuing? Who’s getting infected and
let’s get more targeted in our response.”
____
In other developments:
De Blasio said the city is mourning a paramedic from Colorado who died of COVID-19 after traveling to the city help with the response to the pandemic.
“I’ve got to tell you, it just hurts that such a good man has made the ultimate sacrifice for us,” the mayor said.
______
Matthews reported from New York City. Associated Press writer Carolyn Thompson contributed from Buffalo.
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