NEW YORK — If current trends for COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue, Governor Andrew Cuomo believes students will be fully back to in-person learning when the new school year starts in the fall.
"We have to get back to school," Cuomo said Monday afternoon on Long Island. “If you ask me today, by the current trajectory that we are on, I think there’s no reason why every school shouldn’t be open in September."
The governor says the possibility of mandatory vaccines for students to return is being discussed. He added that it's only possible if the FDA fully approves a vaccine, rather than remaining under Emergency Use Authorization as all versions are right now.
Cuomo's message on Monday was that kids need to be back in classrooms for many reasons, as long as the data at the time supports it.
“Remote learning with COVID discriminated. It discriminated. Poorer households and more minority households were not as successful with remote learning. It was the best that we could do in a bad situation. But by no stretch of the imagination is remote learning a substitute for in-class participation. There is also a socialization aspect that goes with school.”
