De Blasio: NYC Schools Likely to Open

New York City's health indicators concerning COVID-19 show the city will be in the position to likely open its schools this fall, but the judgment will come when "we get right up on the beginning of school in September," and parents will still have the option of sending their children to school or keeping them at home this fall, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.

"I think, so long as we can keep this disease pushed back, we can make this work safely," de Blasio said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." However, he added that schools likely won't return to "full, five-day-a-week, normal" until a vaccine becomes available.

"Now consistently, our health indicators show that we would be in the position to open up school," said the mayor. However, a final judgment will not be made until schools are to start, and that will be determined from the point of safety first, he added.

Meanwhile, 75% of parents in New York City overwhelmingly want their kids back in school, said the mayor, quoting a survey that netted 400,000 responses.

As for this fall, de Blasio said that many parents will keep their children at home, either "because of underlying health conditions or some other reason, that they want that remote learning instead. That will be available to anyone who prefers that."

New York City, he also said, has had "extraordinary success after going through hell in March and April. The people of the city really fought back against this disease. They've been very disciplined. The face coverings, the social distancing. We've been really tough in restrictions we've had in place."

And that would continue in schools, where everything possible would be done to make matters safe, including social distancing, face coverings, and constant cleaning, de Blasio said.

His comments on New York City come after a court decision in Detroit, where a judge Tuesday ruled in-person summer school classes can go on in the public school district, but all students attending school must have COVID-19 tests or summer school will be closed, reports WDIV in Detroit.