NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio told 1010 WINS on Thursday that the city will know "in the next few days" when schools in the city may reopen after in-person learning was halted amid a spike in the rolling COVID positivity rate.
The mayor said "we're facing a new challenge with this second wave bearing down with us" and the city needs "tougher standards" to reopen schools "as quickly as possible."
"We'll know in the next few days exactly what those standards are working with the state and when we can project that reopening," de Blasio said, adding that school reopenings will depend largely on an increase in testing.
The mayor said "we have a lot on the table now," including the possibility of reopening schools on a case-by-case basis, echoing what Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza told 1010 WINS earlier Thursday morning.
Carranza said there are "active conversations" about what date schools could reopen. He said it depends on the city's positivity rate and if Gov. Andrew Cuomo ends up declaring the city an "orange zone," which would lead to a number of state restrictions citywide, including the closure of schools.
"Our goal is to have as much opportunity for students to have in-person learning as possible," Carranza said.
The chancellor said the city hopes to see schools reopen "before the end of the year."
He said "everything is on the table" to reopen school buildings and that in the meantime the city is working to make sure that every student has the devices and connectivity needed to succeed at remote learning.
Carranza's message to parents angered by the decision was "I feel your pain. I want schools open as well."
"Students don't just appear at schools, they have to travel to schools," he noted. "The school may be very safe but getting to school—this should be an alarm to the entire city of New York."
"Schools are a microcosm of the greater city, so if parents and others want schools open and to stay open, we need to be very disciplined this holiday season," he said.
De Blasio also told 1010 WINS that he thinks additional restrictions from the state will close indoor dining and gyms in the coming days or weeks.
"Those closures are coming too and they're coming soon," he said. "That orange zone status that (Gov. Cuomo) made clear will be in effect in the coming days in New York City. That's going to mean indoor dining closes, that's going to mean gyms close. I don't say that with any joy. I feel bad for those businesses, I really do."
"It's coming, and the governor made that very clear yesterday," de Blasio said. "Unfortunately, the numbers keep ticking up. You can see it. So I think it's quite clear that within the next week or two, those restrictions are going to be applied in New York City."
De Blasio repeated his prediction that indoor dining and gyms would close during his morning briefing, saying, "New York City will be, before long, in that orange zone status. I talked to the governor at length about this yesterday. So that means those restrictions are coming."
"I think you're going to see that across the board that there's going to have to be a lot of tough choices to move us forward," the mayor warned.
The city's seven-day COVID positivity rate rose slightly Thursday, from 3.00% to 3.01%.
Meanwhile, parents were delivering a petition to de Blasio at City Hall on Thursday morning to protest the move to close public schools.
The "Keep NYC Schools Open" petition had over 12,000 signatures on Thursday. Families rallied at City Hall as the mayor held his press briefing. They then planned to head to Cuomo's office uptown to deliver another copy of the petition.
The parents say it's "nonsensical" that indoor dining, gyms and barbershops remain open while buildings in the nation's largest school system are closed.
They also say the seven-day 3% positivity rate threshold "was decided over the summer with no input from parents or students and with no awareness of the role schools play in COVID transmission."
And they say remote learning is unfair to children who don't have access to the technology, internet access or a guardian necessary for them to succeed while learning from home.
On Wednesday, de Blasio announced that schools would close starting Thursday — and will stay closed "through Thanksgiving" — after the city reached the 3% positivity rate.
"We set a very clear standard and we need to stick with that standard," the mayor said. "And I want to emphasize to parents, to educators, to staff, to kids that we intend to come back and come back as quickly as possible."
