NYC schools closed from tomorrow as COVID rate rises

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Public schools in New York City will close from Thursday as a result of the rising COVID-19 test positivity rate and businesses like gyms – and indoor dining – may soon be closed, too. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday afternoon that all schools would revert to remote learning starting from Thursday morning because the test positivity rate in New York City was 3 percent. 

The earliest they could reopen, he said, was the week after Thanksgiving but he would not be drawn on specifics.  

‘No one is happy about this decision.

‘We are all feeling very sad about this decision,’ de Blasio said on Wednesday afternoon. 

The positivity rate in schools is only 0.19 percent but de Blasio said he was sticking to 3 percent citywide threshold because that’s what he decided earlier this year. 

De Blasio also went on to say that more restrictions on city life were ‘coming’ and ‘coming soon.’ 

Governor Andrew Cuomo, who decides if businesses stay open or not, said the test positivity rate was 2.5 percent in New York City based on state data, but that if it rises to 3 percent, he would start closing indoor dining and gyms. He said that could happen soon.

The state’s numbers differ slightly from the city’s because New York City positivity figures are based on the day the test was taken. So if someone is deemed positive, they’re counted positive in the data on the day they took the test. The state’s data is based on the day the positive result is received. Both methods of data-gathering are pointing in the same direction, deBlasio noted.

Within New York City, there is a considerably higher positivity rate in the boroughs of Staten Island, Queens and the Bronx than in Manhattan and most of Brooklyn.  

Along with the case count, the number of daily hospitalizations and deaths is also creeping back up. 

Meanwhile, Cuomo said surges in western parts of the state were ‘astronomical’. 

On Tuesday, there were 29 deaths across the state of New York. 

The number is a far cry from the hundreds that were dying every day in the spring, but it’s a worrying increase from the single-digits seen throughout most of the summer. 

The increase also fits with the national trend of rising COVID-19 cases and looming lockdowns. 

Various states have started imposing lockdown rules again. 

New Mexico had closed most businesses and California is also imposing restrictions. 

The gathering clouds come amid a bright spot – the promising news that vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna, two American companies, have both proven to be effective in trials. 

The first doses are likely to be given out in December. 

They will go first to the elderly and vulnerable or to frontline workers. 

Then, they will gradually be rolled out among the public and should be widely available by the end of spring, federal health officials say.  

Until then, lockdowns are becoming more and more likely. 

If Cuomo decides to shut some businesses down, indoor dining – which is currently at 25 percent capacity – will be banned and outdoor dining will be limited to four people at a table if NYC hits a 3 percent positive-test rate, based on the state’s data. 

A decision like that would deliver a big blow to the hospitality industry, which clung on through the summer by offering outdoor dining. 

Houses of worship will still be allowed to operate, however, at a 33 percent capacity.  

Cuomo, speaking at a heated press conference where he yelled at reporters who asked him about schools and called one reporter ‘obnoxious’, warned that there will be a ‘tremendous spike’ after Thanksgiving due to people ignoring his rules to avoid large gatherings. 

The rules now are that no more than 10 people can gather together. 

Cuomo said the rising infection rates were all ‘self-imposed’ and compared it to a person ‘eating cheesecake and having a weight problem.’ 

‘You will see a tremendous spike after Thanksgiving,’ Cuomo warned on Wednesday, saying: ‘Thanksgiving is a holiday and people come together. 

‘If you don’t have a real fear about COVID, you’re going to come together.’ He said he has told his own mother that they cannot spend Thanksgiving with his family. 

‘Your family sounds safe, doesn’t it? No. You won’t be safe. It’s an illusion. My sister loves me, my sister could infect me. Not maliciously, but accidentally,’ he said.  

‘Don’t be the turkey on Thanksgiving,’ he warned.  

Cuomo became frustrated on Wednesday as journalists questioned him on whether or not schools would be open tomorrow, and whether the decision was down to him or Mayor Bill de Blasio. 

He called the first reporter who asked him about it ‘obnoxious’ and said he hadn’t been paying attention. 

He then bit back at the second reporter who asked if schools would be open tomorrow, then snapped at a third who asked if it was him or de Blasio who made the rules. 

‘You don’t know?’ he asked repeatedly.   

Since the start of the pandemic, parents in New York City have found the conflicting remarks and rules confusing. 

In his letter to teachers, the schools chancellor said: ‘This as been an eventful and challenging year on so many levels.

‘With your efforts and contributions, our school buildings have been safe places for teaching and learning for hundreds of thousands of students over the past several weeks.

‘To date, we have seen a COVID-19 positivity rate of 0.19 percent out of 120,000 students and staff tested. 

This has been reassuring sign that our schools are safe, and we are grateful for the tireless work you do to ensure this is possible.’

How US states currently rank with COVID-19: Hotspot North Dakota has the most cases and deaths per capita in the WORLD – as nationwide infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to surge 

The COVID-19 crisis continues to deepen across the United States, with cases, hospitalizations and deaths surging and hotspot North Dakota currently seeing the most infections and fatalities per capita than any other country.

The number of new cases across the US reached close to 162,000 yesterday and hospitalizations once again set record highs with 76,000 patients being treated.

Deaths also continue to trend upward nationally with 1,700 Americans dying yesterday of COVID-19. The daily death toll is still below the peak 2,500 deaths recorded in April during the initial peak of the virus.

While the surge is widespread, the Midwest is particularly hard hit with hotspot states, including the Dakotas, Iowa and Wisconsin, recording the most cases and deaths per capita in the last week.

North Dakota has had the most new infections and deaths per capita in the last week with 180 infections per 100,000 and 1.8 deaths, according to CDC data.

South Dakota ranks second with 161 new cases per capita and 1.7 deaths.

In the last week, nine US states – mostly in the Midwest and led by the Dakotas – have seen more COVID-19 infections that any other part of the country, according to an analysis of Johns Hopkins data from the Federation of American Scientists. 

North Dakota has also had the highest number of deaths per capita in the world in the last week.

South Dakota ranks third behind the Czech Republic.   

Eighteen of the top 50 places with high death rates per capita globally have been in the US in the last week. 

South Dakota, Iowa and Wyoming currently all have positive test rates over 50 percent, according Johns Hopkins data. 

The World Health Organization considers rates above 5 percent concerning because it suggests there are more cases in the community that have not yet been uncovered. 

With Thanksgiving coming up next week, public health officials are bracing for a holiday-fueled surge and doctors are urging families to stick to small gatherings as overwhelmed hospitals across the country struggle to cope.

In its weekly internal report, the White House coronavirus task force warned of an ‘aggressive, unrelenting’ spread of COVID-19 across the country ‘without evidence of improvement but rather, further deterioration,’ a senior administration official said Tuesday. 

The officials said the task force concluded that existing efforts to slow the spread ‘are inadequate and must be increased to flatten the curve’ and that Thanksgiving travel and gatherings could ‘amplify transmission considerably’. 

The deadly rise in COVID-19 cases across the US is forcing state and local officials to adjust their blueprints for fighting the virus, with Republican governors adopting mask mandates – skeptically, in at least one case – and schools scrapping plans to reopen classrooms. 

Since the election, Republican governors in hard-hit Iowa, North Dakota and Utah have reversed course and put in place requirements on masks, and others have extended or expanded earlier orders. 

In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds had pushed back against a mask mandate for months but imposed a limited one Tuesday, becoming the latest GOP holdout to change course on face coverings. 

In South Dakota, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem has said she has no plans to issue mask requirements. 

Dr Shannon Emry, a healthcare worker in South Dakota, told CNN that she believes a mask mandate in the state could help slow the spread and ease the pressure on already overwhelmed hospitals. 

‘Our governor has been misleading her constituents. From the start, she has downplayed the dangers of the virus, downplayed the importance of wearing a mask and it has really undermined the people’s trust in their medical community,’ Emry said. ‘By doing that, she’s putting people in danger.

‘Our hospital systems across the state are already at capacity, are already at this critical state. The health care workers are obviously exhausted and the devastating thing for them is that we don’t see an end in sight. There’s not a stop date, there’s not a timeline.’

Meanwhile governors in Ohio, Maryland and Illinois imposed restrictions on business hours and crowd sizes on Tuesday, while their counterparts in Wisconsin and Colorado proposed economic relief packages. Los Angeles County, with a population of 10 million, ordered similar business restrictions. 

The US is facing what health experts say will be a dark winter because of the onset of cold weather and crowded holiday gatherings, as well as a disregard for mask-wearing and other precautions. 

The rising infection rates are prompting some school districts to revert to remote learning or postpone a return to classroom instruction.

In South Dakota, the Rapid City-area school system plans to close all schools and move to virtual instruction on Wednesday. The district’s latest data showed 94 students and 47 staff with an active case of COVID-19, while 105 staff and 676 students were in quarantine following exposure.  

In metro Las Vegas, the Clark County school district postponed plans to resume partial in-class instruction and will continue with remote learning through at least the end of the calendar year.

West Virginia’s largest teachers organization urged Republican Gov. Jim Justice to make public schools online-only. The state recorded more than 4,400 cases during the week ending Sunday, a 63 percent increase from the previous week. The governor already has barred in-person instruction from Thanksgiving through December 3 to avoid outbreaks from holiday travel.  

Still, former FDA commissioner Dr Mark McClellan said that the current spike in COVID-19 cases in the US would likely be ‘last big surge’ before a vaccine is readily available. 

‘The months ahead are going to look better than the weeks ahead,’ he said. ‘Things are going to start gradually getting better.’

He said that things will improve by early 2021 when a vaccine becomes widely available.