Bill de Blasio says parents should ‘get ready’ for New York’s schools to close classrooms on Monday

City’s 2.83 per cent infection rate, on a rolling seven-day average, is fast approaching the 3 per cent threshold for closing schools

New York City parents are being told to get ready for schools to close once again, as the largest city in the nation fights a rising number of coronavirus infections.

New York's infection rate remains low compared to other states, but it is rising with the rest of the country.

On Friday Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, said his weeks of warning about the need to close schools were on the cusp of coming true.

“People should get ready,” he said, during his weekly appearance on WNYC radio’s The Brian Lehrer Show.

“Have an alternative plan for as early as Monday,” the mayor warned parents.

The caution comes as the city edges closer to a three per cent infection rate on a seven-day rolling average.

The de Blasio administration has said that once the Big Apple’s Covid-19 infection rate tops three per cent on the seven-day rolling average, city school buildings will close.

“I want to urge people to have a plan ready,” said Mr de Blasio.

The latest city data shows New York with a 2.83 per cent infection rate on a seven-day rolling average.

Late on Thursday Richard Carranza, the chancellor, warned head teachers that their schools could well be shutting soon.

“Out of an abundance of caution, and to keep our school communities safe, I am asking all schools to be prepared for a brief time of fully remote learning, system-wide,” he wrote in an email obtained by The New York Post.

“And while no decision has been made about a system-wide transition to remote learning, as every great school leader knows, we must be prepared for every scenario,” he added.

The chancellor offered nearly a dozen tips on “contingency planning” to “prepare for a scenario where all students are learning remotely.”

School closures, if they happen, will anger many parents struggling to keep their lives on track.

Schools have posted exceptionally few infections and have positivity rates far below the city average.

“You are less likely to encounter somebody with infection in a school than you would be outside the school, and not just by a little but by a lot,” said Dr Jay Varma, the mayor’s senior adviser for public health, last month.

Many have argued that it is wrong to keep restaurants open and yet force schools to close.

“Ending in-person instruction right now would be a mistake,” The New York Times editorial board wrote this week in an editorial titled New York City Must Hit Pause on Indoor Dining.