NYC 'Preparing' Potential School Shutdown Over Coronavirus: Mayor

NEW YORK CITY — New York City's ambitious return to in-person classrooms could shutter within a day after the city surpasses an open-or-closed coronavirus benchmark.

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday said teachers, principals and other staff are preparing for a sudden potential citywide school shutdown.

The city is nearing a 3 percent average coronavirus positivity rate, which is the threshold for closing down in-person learning. The rate stood at 2.6 percent on Wednesday, de Blasio said.

"No one wants to see that happen…there’s still a chance to turn that around, obviously, but we’re preparing for that possibility," he said. "It's a rule we've put out there very clearly. And if any day we see in the morning, the indicators come out and have reached that level then we will move immediately and the next day, schools will be shut down."

Roughly 300,000 students are attending in-person class in New York City — the largest number of students anywhere in the country during the coronavirus pandemic.

Infection rates among students have remained extremely low. Just 12 students citywide are currently reported to have the virus, according to Department of Education data.

But a different measurement — the citywide positivity rate over a seven-day average — is used to determine whether to keep school open.

That metric has steadily increased over recent weeks after hovering at or below 1 percent over the summer.

De Blasio acknowledged it's a tougher threshold than the state's. He said officials set a plan with an "abundance of caution" so people had confidence about coming back to school.

"We put a standard out to say to everyone, we have your back we’re going to do this in a very rigorous fashion," he said. "We need to stick to that standard."

De Blasio said principals and teachers know they can teach every student remotely. They are being alerted to prepare for a closure that could go on for days or weeks, he said.

"Everybody’s preparing, but our schools are open today and we’re going to maintain hope," he said.