Cuomo sets deadline for NY school reopening decision
NEW YORK, N.Y. — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo set a deadline for the end of the first week of August about the state making a decision on reopening schools.
The announcement came during a Wednesday morning news briefing in New York City.
School Reopening Timeline
On July 13, the state will issue its finalized guidance on reopening schools in the fall. School districts will then have until July 31 to make any adjustments to their fall reopening plans and submit them to the state. Based off of the plans and incoming health data, the state will make a decision during the week of August 1 - 7 on if and when schools will reopen in the fall.
"I understand there's a 'drop dead' date where you have to make a decision by a certain date, but wait until that date to make a decision, because the facts may change," Cuomo said. "As we see, a week can be a lifetime with this COVID virus because everything changes so quickly."
Cuomo also pushed back on President Donald Trump calling for schools to be reopened across the country.
Trump urged governors to reopen the schools in the fall and threatened to withhold federal funding if they do not. He also pushed back on CDC recommendations on schools reopening. The CDC's guidance recommends that students and teachers wear masks whenever feasible, spread out desks, stagger schedules, eat meals in classrooms instead of the cafeteria, and add physical barriers between bathroom sinks.
Mall Reopenings
Beginning Friday, July 10, malls will be allowed to reopen in regions that are in Phase 4 - provided they have MERV-11 or higher-rated air filters for their air filtration systems.
MORE:Rochester-area mall owners will do 'whatever it takes' to reopen
As of July 8, there were 841 hospitalizations due to coronavirus. Of those patients hospitalized, 97 were intubated. This is the first time that fewer than 100 patients were intubated since March 16. At peak in April, there were 4,449 patients who were intubated across New York.
The percentage of test results coming back positive hovers around 1 percent for most of the state. Of57,585 coronavirus tests conducted Tuesday, there were 692 positive results.
Eleven people died Tuesday - nine in hospitals and two in nursing homes.
Cuomo took the federal government to task over its claim that the number of cases is going up because we are testing more, repeating a point he has made several times about the rising number of positive cases being linked to the rising number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19.
The governor also announced all county fairs have been cancelled for 2020. Most fairs had already cancelled in the Finger Lakes, Central New York, and Capital Regions.