Cuomo orders New York schools in coronavirus hot spots to close tomorrow

In a press conference on Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered schools in coronavirus hot spots in Brooklyn and Queens to close on Tuesday.

Video Transcript

ANDREW CUOMO: On schools, my number one concern has always been schools. I said to the parents of this state, I will not send-- I will not allow your child to be sent to any school that I would not send my child, period. And you have my personal word on that. I've spoken to thousands of parents who have called up and said, I'm worried about sending my child to school. I said, I won't allow a school to open that I wouldn't send my child to. That's my test.

On the schools in these areas, not all of them have been tested. So we don't have data on all of the schools in these hotspot clusters. That troubles me. And on the telephone call, we were all basically in agreement.

They have sampled some schools in the clusters, but not all the schools. And these are the hotspot clusters, right? So if you have to prioritize testing, you want to go to these schools first because you know they are in hotspot clusters.

So some schools in those clusters we have not yet done testing on. Better safe than sorry. I would not send my child to a school in a hotspot cluster that has not been tested, where I did not have proof that the infection rate was low in that school. I would not send my child.

I am not going to recommend or allow any New York City family to send their child to a school that I wouldn't send my child. We're going to close the schools in those areas tomorrow.