New York State will use a formula to determine whether schools in different regions of the state can open in September, Governor Andrew Cuomo told the press on Monday.
The Governor also outlined specific regional benchmarks that would dictate which schools would be deemed safe to open.
Schools will be allowed to reopen if a region of New York has a daily infection rate below 5% over a two-week average. Also, the region as a whole must have reached the least restrictive reopening phase. Conversely, if a region has an infection rate over 9% over a one-week average, schools in that region will not re-open. Schools could also close once in session if their regional infection rate rises over 9%.Schools will not reopen.
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A final decision about whether schools can reopen will be made by New York State during the first week of August.
Also on Monday, the NYS Education Department released guidelineS (.pdf) for how schools should reopen safely.
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