Coronavirus in N.Y.C.: Pressure to Close School System, Nation’s Largest

A public hospital nurse, for example, would likely not be able to stay home from work even if her child was home from school. And home health aides who have children enrolled in public schools provide crucial support for elderly New Yorkers, who are particularly vulnerable to the virus.

“The downsides are very well known: We know kids will miss meals, we know parents will have to stay home, including health care workers,” said Mark Levine, a Manhattan city councilman who chairs the Council’s health committee. Mr. Levine said he had spoken to hospital presidents who have said they are worried about a potential staffing shortage if public schools are shut.

Experts agreed that it would be difficult to shut schools without other severe restrictions on city life, including strong encouragement or even a requirement to keep children at home, rather than simply excusing them from school.

The vulnerabilities of closings without strict social distancing measures are on display in Scarsdale, a New York City suburb where schools are closed until at least next week after a middle schoolteacher tested positive for the virus.

The district was receiving “reports of students gathering in large numbers and some posting their disregard for the risks associated with the current outbreak,” said Scarsdale’s school superintendent, Thomas Hagerman, in an email to parents on Wednesday. “Preventative measures are only effective if we embrace and implement them as a community.”

Most public schools across the state remain open, with some major exceptions, including public schools in Scarsdale, East Ramapo, and New Rochelle in Westchester County, which is the epicenter of the state’s outbreak. Initially, only three New Rochelle public schools located in a one-mile “containment” zone closed earlier this week, but the entire district shut down on Friday following protests from families.

Inside New York City’s schools this week, educators were concerned and conflicted.

“Thankfully, it’s not my decision,” said Liat Olenick, a teacher at the Brooklyn Arbor School in Williamsburg, of closure. “It’s a really hard one.”