NYC schools are shutting down as coronavirus positivity rate passes 3 percent threshold

New York City schools are shutting down — but the rest of the city is not.

NYC's public school system was set to shut down if the city's coronavirus positivity rate passed three percent. That happened on Wednesday, prompting NYC schools chancellor Richard Carrenza to announce Wednesday schools would temporarily shutter starting Thursday.

Getting that news wasn't easy, as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio left reporters waiting for nearly four hours after the scheduled start of a press conference before tweeting to confirm the shutdown. He also didn't acknowledge whether New York would close indoor dining and other businesses as case counts grew — things European countries have shut down instead of schools.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) meanwhile confusingly said Wednesday that NYC's positivity rate had actually been 2.9 percent the day before, implying schools wouldn't close. But he wouldn't answer straightforward questions about the fate of schools, instead getting angry with reporters — and by extension, parents — just trying to get a straight answer. Even State Sen. Jessica Ramos (D), whose children are in NYC schools, had no idea what was happening. Kathryn Krawczyk