Five more schools have temporarily closed due to rising coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 6 on the Upper West Side, Patch has first reported.
As of Wednesday, the following schools have joined the West Side YMCA with temporary closures: P.S. 75 at 735 West End Avenue, P.S. 84 at 32 West 92nd Street, P.S. 811 at 466 West End Avenue, P.S. 87 at 160 West 78th Street, and P.S. 199 270 West 70th Street.
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A third of New York City’s public-school buildings are closed due to the coronavirus. According to the Department of Education’s daily COVID tracker, the total number of shuttered schools hit 373 this week. This includes day-long and extended closure situations.
On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the “vast majority” of schools – two thirds of them, for the record – still remain open. The Mayor said the closures are necessary to keep students and teachers safe.
“No one likes it,” he said. “And we want to be absolutely sure when that kind of closure has to happen, but we take a better safe than sorry approach here. And that has kept our schools the safest in the country and the schools being the safest place to be in New York City.”
As of Thursday, 91 buildings are under day-long closures and 221 are under extended, 10-day closures.
This is an ongoing tragedy.