Students of all ages will not be returning to the classroom anytime soon as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced K-12 schools and college facilities will be closed for the rest of the academic year.
Cuomo noted it is nearly impossible to implement new protocols and put a plan into place that would effectively protect students and faculty given the circumstances.
“We don’t think it’s possible to do that in a way that would keep our children and students and educators safe,” Cuomo said.
He continued, “So we’re going to have the schools remain closed for the rest of the year.”
Watch his comments below:
NY Gov. Cuomo says all K-12 schools and college facilities will be closed for the rest of the academic year and will continue to provide distance learning https://t.co/eopdoUZmam pic.twitter.com/pH2nmF5TXu
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 1, 2020
Schools will continue distance learning programs and a decision on summer schools will be made by the end of May.
“Nobody can predict what the situation is going to be three, four weeks from now,” Cuomo said.
He added, “So we’re trying to stage decisions at intervals that give us the information but also enough time for people to make the preparations they need to make. So any decision on summer schools will be made by the end of this month.”
New York has become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. As of Friday afternoon there are more than 306,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and over 23,000 deaths.
Cuomo has taken other steps to slow the spread of the coronavirus including extending his stay-at-home order beyond May 15 in some parts of the state, as IJR previously reported.
On April 30, he made the decision to put a temporary halt to New York City’s 24-hour subway service for disinfecting, as IJR previously reported.
Health experts are not confident the pandemic will subside in the near future. The effects of the coronavirus outbreak could last up to two years, according to a research report.
There are more than 1,000,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States as of Friday afternoon and over 63,000 deaths.