TRENTON, N.J. (1010 WINS) -- Every school in New Jersey has been cleared to reopen to students, with safety precautions in place, but at least 180 school districts have decided to start the year with remote learning, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday.
The New Jersey Department of Education has received 745 reopening plans from the state's public school districts, as well as private and religious schools, 251 of which have been deemed "complete," 389 of which have been reviewed and "returned for revision," and 105 of which haven't been reviewed yet, Murphy said in a briefing Monday afternoon.
Fifty-nine plans involve full-time, in-person learning; 180 involve delaying in-person learning and starting off the year remotely; 436 involve a "hybrid" model of in-person and remote learning; and 11 were submitted by school districts that plan to take different approaches at different schools, he said.
"We recognize the tremendous differences between and within our school districts that make a one-size-fits-all solution impractical," Murphy said. "We have provided the communities the flexibility they need to make the right decision that works best for them."
Murphy on Monday reported 225 new COVID-19 cases and three new deaths, bringing the state's case total to 189,719 and its death toll to 14,120. The state is also investigating an additional 1,829 probable deaths.
New Jersey's rate of transmission currently stands at .85, and its positivity rate on Aug. 20 was 1.33 percent, Murphy said.
As of Sunday, 446 people in the state were hospitalized with confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases, 66 of whom were in intensive care units and 27 of whom were on ventilators, he added.
