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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that NYC will start a phased reopening of public schools from 7^th December 2020. He delivered a speech and said Pre-school, daycare, kindergarten, and elementary schools will return to in-person learning on that Monday, but special education schools will be opening on Thursday. The NYC Mayor also explained and said, “The focus on younger children is because we know studies consistently show younger kids are having less of a negative experience and there is less concern about the spread of Covid-19 when it comes to younger kids. Having younger children return to the classroom will also relieve some of the burdens on parents having to balance childcare and work responsibilities”. There is no timetable has been laid out for a return to in-person learning for middle school and high school students.

Point to be noted that 20% of students at a school will be tested for Covid-19 on a weekly basis under the plan. It is an increase from the previous monthly requirement. De Blasio said there is now enough to be utilized more widely in schools as testing capacity has grown in New York City. The consent forms allowing for testing will be mandatory for a child to attend school. Students who chose a blended learning option will move to in-person tuition 5-days a week for schools that have enough space to accommodate them. De Blasio said, “Wherever possible we will move to 5-days/ week in-person learning. We want our kids in the classroom for as much time as possible. Our families do, too. We’ll work to make it happen”.

#ICYMI:@NYCMayor announced @NYCSchools buildings will reopen for 3-K, Pre-K and K-5 students on Monday, December 7.

District 75 school buildings will reopen on Thursday, December 10. pic.twitter.com/qLl8lJCDgb

— City of New York (@nycgov) November 29, 2020

It is noteworthy that New York City schools were shut on 19^th November after the city passed a 3% positive test rate agreed upon with teaching unions when schools were originally reopened. The threshold of 3% has now been dropped in favor of closer monitoring of schools themselves over citywide cases. It is important that data from the US Health Department shows the 7-day rolling average positive test rate for the city is currently 3.9%. NYC is averaging approximately 2,000 new cases/ day with an increase of 33% from 2-weeks earlier. The city experienced in excess of 5,000 cases/ day at its peak during the initial wave of Covid-19 earlier in the year. New York City was hit hard by the virus in March and April as one of the original global hotspots for the coronavirus pandemic but kept new cases to a minimum between June and October 2020.