NYC Mayor Says Schools Likely to Remain Closed the Whole Year

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at a news briefing about COVID-19 at City Hall in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, on March 14, 2020. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio predicted on Monday that public schools in New York will remain closed for the whole year to cope with the CCP virus outbreak.

The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic.

The city’s administration closed its 1,700 public schools that serve 1.1 million students on March 16 with a notice that they would reopen on April 20, but de Blasio said that will likely not happen.

“Right now, even though April 20th is our goal to reopen, I can’t see it. We’re going to make that judgment as we get closer,” said de Blasio while he was live on PIX11.

The statement comes as New York City becomes the epicenter of the outbreak in the country, with nearly 10,000 cases of infection and 63 deaths, representing 1/3 of the total cases in the country and 2/3 of all cases in the New York state, according to a message on Twitter by De Blasio on Sunday.

“But at the trajectory we’re on now, I can’t see it. I do, unfortunately, believe the likelihood right now is that we lose the whole school year, which is really, really deeply unfortunate,” de Blasio said.

The Mayor also expressed concerns about a lack of laptops, tablets, and Wi-Fi connections for children of low-income families, since the classes have moved online.

According to New York City Chancellor Richard A. Carranza, the administration recently gave 25,000 laptops and tablets to children from low-income families but there are still 275,000 in need.

“This is part of why I was so hesitant to close our schools because we’ve got hundreds of thousands of kids we can’t even reach with distance learning,” said de Blasio.

The Mayor said his administration is trying to reach more students every day and is getting a lot of help from the private sector.

“We’re going to keep getting more kids laptops and the technology they need and the Wi-Fi connections. It’s just going to have to be an ongoing thing,” said de Blasio.

Free Meals for Students

The New York City Department of Education said beginning Monday it'll start providing free breakfast, lunch, and dinner to New York City students through 400 sites.

“The New York City Department of Education is committed to making three free meals available daily for all NYC children,” the city administration said on its website.

The department said there’s no dining space available and that parents can pick up three meals for their children at the same time. No registration, ID, or documentation is required.

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