NYC Schools Will Remain Open Tuesday, De Blasio Says

NEW YORK CITY — In-person classes in New York City’s schools will continue Tuesday as the city’s average coronavirus positivity rate yet again skirted just below the 3 percent trigger for a system-wide shutdown.

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday said the city’s average coronavirus positivity rate is 2.77 percent.

“Today New York City schools will be open,” he said. “Tomorrow they’ll be open as well.”

The city’s public school parents, students and teachers are locked in a will-they, won’t-they daily waiting game over school closures.

De Blasio on Monday yet again pledged to follow a months-old promise to shut down the city’s schools if the 3 percent threshold is breached. He brushed off suggestions that the city adjust the rate given that schools have proven to be safer than the city as a whole, especially as coronavirus rates surged in all five boroughs.

“We made a promise that we would set a gold standard for safety in our schools,” he said.

But as de Blasio pledged to stick with the 3 percent standard for shutdowns, he tried to shift the conversation toward school reopening.

De Blasio, in a response to CBS reporter Marcia Kramer, said the city is looking into allowing schools to come back after closures if the students and staff in the buildings test at a percentage below the city’s average.

He noted the state set up a similar standard for schools in coronavirus “red zones.”

“That model could make a lot of sense here,” he said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier Monday repeated suggestions that the city could change its 3 percent school closure trigger. De Blasio said the city and state remain in conversations and again stressed concentrating on reopening standards rather than the shutdown mark.