Schools Grapple With Closures Over Coronavirus [POLL]

NEW YORK — The new coronavirus continues to make headlines in New York, with the number of confirmed cases going up each day. The number of new coronavirus cases in New York increased from 44 on Friday to 76 on Saturday, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency in the state.

Around the region, schools on their own have been determining how to deal with concerns over the virus.

A few private schools, directly related to the first case reported in Westchester — a 50-year-old New Rochelle attorney who is in intensive care — chose to close earlier in the week.

Two school districts in Westchester County said they had potential exposures and opted to shutter their facilities through the weekend in order to clean the buildings. They are the Hastings-on-Hudson and Mount Vernon districts.

Friday, a Long Island man who lives in Uniondale tested positive for the virus and is in the hospital. The Uniondale School District said it had been in contact with Nassau County and state health officials and decided there was no reason to take any additional measures beyond what are already in place.
That jibes with what the City School District of New Rochelle is doing.

Follow all the coronavirus updates in New York. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.

New Rochelle is at the center of a majority of confirmed cases in the state, and the district decided not to close any facilities. On Saturday, the district alerted the community to a staff member at an elementary school having possibly been exposed to the virus.

Superintendent Dr. Laura Feijóo said the buildings are sanitized on a regular basis and worked with state and county health officials to come up with protocols for the district — until or if the state or county comes back with a change in procedures.

The plan includes what will happen if there are any confirmed cases of the virus in any of the schools or offices.

Still, others schools and organizations are trimming back on events or even the amount of time buildings will be open during the day or weekend so that effective cleaning can take place.

Patch spoke with Dr. Robert W. Amler, a dean at New York Medical College and a former chief medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who said schools have to make institutional decisions based on knowledge of their students, teachers and community.

"These are executive decisions to be made depending on the nature of the exposure as interpreted by the health authority and what they feel they need to do practically for their community," he said.

Now it's your turn to weigh in on the issue. Vote in our unscientific poll and tell us what you think in the comments.