Gov. Cuomo sounds off on school reopening plans
NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo voiced caution Sunday over plans to reopen schools in the Big Apple and beyond.
“It’s about the parents being comfortable,” he said during a press call. “Just because a school district says ‘we’re open’ does not mean students are going to go.”
The comments came after the de Blasio administration on Friday said New York City is on track to reopen schools as long as the coronavirus infection rate remains below 3%, which it has since early June. The plan also lays out protocol for handling infections in schools, stating if two people in separate classes are found to be positive with coronavirus, that would trigger a 24-hour schoolwide shutdown and a test-and-trace investigation.
“We’ve fought so hard to come back from this disease. We’re going to be very cautious to not let there be a resurgence,” de Blasio vowed.
But a top Cuomo adviser said the document from the city was more like an “outline” than a concrete plan.
Jim Malatras said it was just 30 pages, compared to a roughly 80-page plan from Yonkers, which has a much smaller school system.
“If the parents don’t feel comfortable, they’re not going to send their children,” Cuomo said. “We’ll accomplish nothing if we open the schools, but a significant number of parents decide to keep their children home.
“Parents are not going to take this lightly,” he added. “That’s my point about the plans.”
The press briefing came as coronavirus continued to spike in wide swaths of the U.S.
But the Empire State marked new lows in two key categories, according to Cuomo — hospitalizations and the three-day death rate.
There were 556 hospitalized for COVID-19 as of Saturday, “the lowest number we’ve had hospitalized since we began,” Cuomo said.
“The three-day rolling average for deaths dropped to four, the lowest number since mid-March,” he added.
The state had 25,170 total deaths as of Saturday, according to the Health Department.
A task force of State Liquor Authority officers and state police visited 1,070 establishments in New York City and on Long Island on Saturday, according to Cuomo’s office.
They slapped bars and restaurants with 36 violations for offenses like allowing customers to ignore social-distancing rules.
The task force has “observed” 13,684 establishments total since the state launched the effort last month.
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