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New York reopens public schools with weekly covid-19 tests | Society

In a surprising twist, the mayor of New York, Democrat Bill de Blasio, announced this Sunday at a press conference the reopening of the city’s public schools, which had been closed on November 19 when the Big Apple reached 3% positivity. In a brief message on the social network Twitter, the mayor’s office has reported that the reopening will be gradual, starting on December 7 for levels between preschool and fifth grade of primary school, and on December 10 for students with special needs . The students of higher courses will continue as before, with remote classes. The statement also explains that covid-19 tests will be carried out in the centers, for which the students must have a consent form.

“It is a new approach, because now we have a lot of evidence of how safe schools can be,” De Blasio explained to journalists at the press conference, noting that the benchmark index of 3% positivity has been discarded as a benchmark for the schools.

The city’s public schools, which make up the largest educational network in the country, had been closed for the second time after the first wave, in the spring, when they had reopened for just over eight weeks, despite the fact that the transmission rate in the centers did not It is significant according to experts. But the 3% positivity registered in mid-November in the coronavirus tests encouraged the mayor to agree with the teaching unions on the precautionary closure of the centers, contrary to the opinion of the state governor, the also democrat Andrew M. Cuomo , in favor of keeping classrooms open.

After receiving harsh criticism for sending students home while shops, restaurants or gyms were open – albeit with reduced hours – the New York City Council has backtracked and presented the new reopening plan. De Blasio said he felt “very bad for the children and the parents” when he decided two weeks ago to close the centers again, but that the City Council considered that it had to fulfill its commitments, measures that it had negotiated for a long time with the unions of teachers after they threatened to strike, which had already been planned since the summer. According to the mayor, the face-to-face model will be the one that will be maintained until a vaccine against covid-19 is available.

The City Council estimates that up to 335,000 students can go back to school, just under a third of the total of those who were enrolled last year in the city’s public system, one of the few among the country’s large cities that had bet for face-to-face teaching.

The reopening plan will require that students who return to classrooms undergo weekly tests for the coronavirus and, unlike what has happened so far with the current hybrid model, will allow children to go to school five days a week. The new decision of the New York City Hall means in practice the disappearance of this hybrid model, in which students attended the center two or three days a week and the rest followed the lessons by videoconference, in an attempt to reduce the number of people present in buildings.

The United States has exceeded this Sunday the figure of 265,000 deaths from covid-19 and adds more than 13 million infected. The New York announcement contrasts with the confinement decreed in the city of Los Angeles, where as of this Monday even the terraces of bars and restaurants will close. The health authorities contemplate with fear the possibility of a rebound in cases in the coming days after Thanksgiving holidays, with records of one million daily passengers at airports throughout the week, in the largest movement recorded since the pandemic began in March.

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