Hundreds Of New York City Schools Closed In Neighborhoods With Coronavirus Upticks
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York City public and private schools were once again closed Tuesday in neighborhoods seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
This came as the city struggles to enforce mask wearing and social distancing in those areas.
Hundreds of schools will be closed for at least two weeks, including Edward Murrow High School in Midwood, Brooklyn.
"I thought it was inevitable," parent Steven Harley told CBS2's John Dias. "They should keep it all shut down until this is all over with."
Harley said he's glad he already chose and planned for remote learning for his son, who's a freshman there.
"This will be for several weeks. The faster we address the problem on the ground, the faster the community participates, the quicker we can get those schools open again -- in as little as two weeks, hopefully no more than four weeks," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "But we all have a lot of work to do."
Teacher Nicky Poladova lives in one of the coronavirus clusters, so her local schools are closed, but not where she works in Brighton Beach.
"It makes me worried about the other people in my school," she said. "Maybe I may get someone else sick."
The city and state have been stepping up compliance, but Dias reported seeing many people not wearing masks inside businesses Tuesday.
"Whatever needs to be done, needs to be done," said Roman Ged.
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On Monday night, the FDNY cut the padlocks and put their own on a Borough Park warehouse where hours earlier hundreds packed inside for a children's performance.
Kids performed close on stage, and while the audience filed out with face coverings, photos inside showed many without.
Police said no one tried to break up the performance because it was religious in nature.
Commissioner Dermot Shea said Tuesday they can't single out specific groups.
"We've got to be very careful with the words we use and talking about sending the police to certain groups only -- we're going to be out there for all New Yorkers," he said in an interview.
Schools will remain closed until the infection rates go down.
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