NYC sees biggest coronavirus spike since June as schools reopen

If positive tests remain above 3 percent, the school system could shut down—again

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio hugs a child after reading a book to a prekindergarten class (AP)

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday announced that the city was seeing its highest positive test rate for coronavirus since June, at a daily rate of 3.25 per cent. The announcement comes the same day hundreds of thousands of children return to in-person classrooms for the first time since the pandemic shut down the city.

“That is cause for real concern,” the mayor said at a press conference.

The spike is partially being driven by an uptick in cases across nine zip codes in the South Brooklyn and Queens areas, which are home to large, close-knit Orthodox Jewish communities, who have been disproportionately impacted by the virus in the past and don’t always regularly wear masks.  

The mayor on Friday ordered New York police and sheriffs to enforce public health guidelines in those areas, and the city’s health department has threatened to ban gatherings of more than ten there.

The announcement couldn’t have come at a worse time, as roughly 300,000 school kids returned Tuesday to the largest public school system in the country, after the city previously delayed reopening schools twice. Mayor de Blasio has threatened to shut down the schools once again if the positive test rate averages 3 percent.

The city has seen a steady decline in positive tests to the low single digits since their peak in April, at more than 70%.

Coronavirus hit New York state and the city earlier and harder than almost anywhere in the country. More than 19,000 have died in the city so far from the virus, according to the NYC Health Department. Wrangling between Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio on the extent and form of the coronavirus response caused delays at the crucial early stages of the virus’ spread in New York City. Columbia University researchers estimate more than 17,000 lives could have been saved in the city if social distancing went into effect a week earlier.