Governor Andrew Cuomo says summer schools across New York will be limited to distance learning, with no actual classroom instruction, but he says it’s too early to say what will happen in the fall.
The governor says in early June, the state will issue guidelines for school districts statewide to follow as they seek to reopen their classrooms. Districts are being asked to draw up plans for reopening in September that will be due in July, but Cuomo says he won’t actually decide until then if schools can open in the fall.
Most school districts had actually closed on their own because of the COVID-19 pandemic before the state issued shutdown orders.
Governor Cuomo also said the state’s network of contact tracers is beginning work today. People who may have been exposed to a COVID-19 positive person may get a phone call notifying them of the exposure and advising them to get tested. Caller ID on such calls will read “NYS Contact Tracing.” The governor says you should answer that call if it comes.
COVID-19 cases are still on the decline statewide. Hospital cases are down to less than 5,200. New cases since yesterday are 246, and deaths dropped to 105. Cuomo urged people to keep sanitizing, hand washing and wearing their masks. He says health care workers who do all that have a lower infection rate than the general population.