HV Coronavirus: No Decision Yet On Reopening Schools, Cuomo Says

Despite an announcement by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Saturday that the city's public schools will stay closed through the rest of the school year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said no decision has been made — and won't be in the next few days because the future remains uncertain.

"I understand the mayor's position. The mayor has an opinion. But when we made the decision to close schools we made it for the entire metropolitan region," Cuomo said at his Saturday briefing several hours later. "Any decision to reopen will also be a coordinated decision."

Cuomo said not just de Blasio, but also Westchester County Executive George Latimer and Long Island officials, will be consulted before a decision is made about the region's public schools.

"It all works together," Cuomo said. "George Latimer will have an opinion in Westchester ... I don't want Suffolk doing something that Nassau doesn't do, that NYC doesn't do, that Westchester doesn't do."

Ideally, he said, the decision would also be coordinated with New Jersey and Connecticut, because the economy is a regional one. "How can you say to people I think you can go back to work in May but the schools are going to continue to be closed so you're going to have to figure out what to do with your kids?" he said.

The spread of the new coronavirus has been stabilized in Rockland and Westchester counties, he reiterated. SEE: NY Coronavirus: Cases Stabilizing In Rockland, Westchester.

While the death toll statewide has apparently also stabilized, it has stabilized "at a horrific rate," Cuomo said.

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the state was 170,512 as of Friday, the most recent data available from the New York Department of Health. In the Hudson Valley, the number of confirmed cases was 1,598 in Dutchess, 4,532 in Orange, 487 in Putnam, 7,122 in Rockland, 530 in Ulster and 18,077 in Westchester.