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Back To School NYC During CoVid Pandemic End of Summer 2020

Sep 07, 2020 at 03:41 pm by mikewood


George Floyd Protests NYC

Weekend Things To Do - NYC Near Summer’s End

Cuomo Gives Greenlight to Opening of Schools, Gyms, Bowling Alleys & Low Risk Cultural Sites, de Blasio Announces Schools Reopening Plan, Real Estate Market Changing & Events Happening (& Not) this Fall

weekend things to do nyc things to do manhattan brooklyn queens bronx staten island nycAugust 14, 2020 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC CoVid 19 Special Section / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC.

Weekend Weather. The temperature highs will be in the mid 80’s on Friday and Saturday, dropping to the mid 70’s on Sunday. The temperature lows will be around 70. It will be partly cloudy with the winds about 10 mph all weekend. There’s a small chance of a small amount of rain on Friday and then a 50% chance of some small amount of rain on Sunday beginning early afternoon and lasting through the day.

Governor Cuomo Expands Reopenings to Indoor Cultural Sites, Gyms & Bowling Alleys

Today the Governor said that bowling alleys, gyms and low risk cultural sites can reopen. Specific protocols were provided for bowling alleys, which are set to reopen Monday, August 17th. Cuomo said that gym protocols and the reopening date for them would be made public on Monday. And other low risk cultural sites are set to reopen Monday, August 24th, with a number of CoVid safety protocols put in place including social distancing, masks, cleaning regimens and capacity limitations.

Mayor & NYC Public Schools Post Reopening Plan for September

A week ago, on Friday, August 7th, Governor Cuomo gave the greenlight for public school districts in New York State to reopen their doors this fall. During the press briefing, the Governor cited New Yorkers ongoing success in thwarting the spread of the Corona Virus as only about 1% of the tens of thousands tested daily, were testing positive, and the deaths attributed to the Corona Virus in NYS had fallen to five.

Mayor de Blasio has been working hard with NYC Public Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza and Michael Mulgrew of the United Federation of Teachers union to come up with a palatable plan for the 1.1 million students who attend NYC public schools. Although not yet announced officially, the NYC public schools will likely reopen Thursday, September 10th, following the Labor Day Weekend. This is in line with the normal opening date for NYC public schools.

Depending on which survey or data set one uses, the number of parents in favor of sending their kids back to school in NYC is within the range of 60% - 75%. That’s roughly 700,000 to 800,000 kids for the Fall enrollment.


Weekend Things To Do - NYC Near Summer’s End

Cuomo Gives Greenlight to Opening of Schools, Gyms, Bowling Alleys & Low Risk Cultural Sites, de Blasio Announces Schools Reopening Plan, Real Estate Market Changing & Events Happening (& Not) this Fall

August 14, 2020 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC CoVid 19 Special Section / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC. Continued.

Public Health & Safety are being Managed & Mitigated

weekend things to do nyc things to do manhattan brooklyn queens bronx staten island nycThe first concern for all is the health and safety of the children and teachers. New York State has done more CoVid testing than anywhere else and our state and city testing positive rates remain low. That puts the city and state in [one of] the strongest positions to actually properly execute the reopening of the school system, without sparking a CoVid flare up. If the city / state CoVid testing rate rises above predetermined levels of 3% / 5% and 9%, certain containment, pull back and shutdown procedures will go into effect which should serve to mitigate any potential outbreak. Kind of like nuclear plant problem procedures.

In addition to the global decision mechanism outlined above, enhanced cleaning at the schools will be conducted daily, including the ultraviolet light procedures that went into effect at the MTA, not long after the outbreak erupted in the Spring of 2020. There are approximately 1,800 public schools in NYC, and in some cases there’s more than one school housed in the same building. Mayor de Blasio has put plans in place to provide a nurse on site daily at each building, so that temperatures may be taken and tests administered when needed. Social distancing and masks are also required of all teachers and students.

NYC Public School Schedule / Program Options

New York City public schools are offering a variety of learning programs, including online only or a couple of blended learning options, which includes a mix of in school and online learning time. The blended plans include in house attendance on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as every other Monday with the remaining classes online, or Wednesdays and Fridays in attendance on site, as well as every other Monday, with the other days learning online. There are a multitude of plans, which may be found on the NYC Schools website athttps://www.schools.nyc.gov.

Like students, teachers may also opt for remote classes only. An August 10th 2020 report by the City estimated that about 15% of the teachers had opted for a remote teaching schedule only, while about a quarter or 264,000 students out of 1.1 million students opted for remote learning only.

Heating, Ventilation & Cooling Systems - One of the Last Hurdles

I believe the remaining two biggest issues of contention between the teachers union and NYC is regarding the HVAC [Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning] systems in the NYC public school system and a call for more robust contact tracing. Of the 58,000 classrooms in the city, the Mayor said that only a few have ventilation issues. A report by the NY Daily News and cited in an August 10th report filed by the website The City stated that 650 of the 1800 schools had at least one issue with heating, ventilation and cooling during the last school year.

weekend things to do nyc things to do manhattan brooklyn queens bronx staten island nycA million or more folks rely on the public school system to educate their children, so it’s not just the children’s development that’s at stake here, but the family operating systems of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, who in turn are relied upon by the rest of us, which number in the millions.

All in all it seems the Mayor and the Governor have done about all they can reasonably do to address the major issues and concerns balancing public health and safety with getting people back to school and back to work.

CoVid could be with us without an effective cure, therapy or vaccine for years - so we can’t put all of life on hold until it goes away. Thus over the coming weeks and months we’ll have to see if and how it all works ... and then make adjustments and adapt accordingly. There are public meetings scheduled over the next couple of weeks which you can attend online - see https://www.schools.nyc.gov for details.

NYC Real Estate Market Dynamics Appear to be Changing

Demand for office and retail space has been declining, while demand for suburban homes has been climbing with prices following suite. According to a recent PWC [Price Waterhouse Coopers] survey, more than 80% of chief executives believe that white collar remote / working from home will play some sort of permanent role in how they function going forward, while the remaining 20% of CEO's said they believed that remote / working from home was a temporary measure that would diminish as the pandemic subsides. We’ll post more on this at a later date.

NYC Events Happening & (Not) this Fall

It wasn’t that long ago when we used to publish a weekly notice of the myriad of things happening in every borough. It was a gargantuan task, but always an interesting endeavor. These days it seems we’ve come down to publishing what things are NOT happening this weekend / month, as CoVid responses, mitigations and remedial actions are being pursued. At present I don’t have high hopes for a big fall season, but I am cautiously optimistic for the new year.

Local Events Cancelled / Postponed

weekend things to do nyc things to do manhattan brooklyn queens bronx staten island nycThe Comic Con event gathering, held every year at the Javits Center, has been cancelled for this year. Comic Con had been scheduled for Thursday thru Sunday, October 8 - 11, 2020, but has been cancelled due to the Corona Virus pandemic. They've been doing Comic Con for about 50 years and expect to return / continue next year.

The Sunday, November 1, 2020 NYC Marathon was cancelled [I think we previously announced this as it was was first made public on June 24, 2020]. The organizers, in tandem with NYC, decided having 50,000 runners breathing hard next to one another for hours on end, might not be good for their health, during the pandemic.

The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, which runs the holiday season, from November 6 - January 6, 2021 - has been cancelled. For the first time since their debut in 1933, the Rockettes won’t be kicking up a storm for audiences from around the globe. I believe my mother, aunt and grandmother first saw the Rockettes on their first trip to New York City back in the 1960’s. They also saw a Puerto Rican man speaking Spanish at the United Nations, which I was told that my grandmother was quick to identify as a ‘spy’. Grandmother’s daughters chuckled behind her back, as grandmother hadn’t spent much time outside of the locality of Chilton, Wisconsin, which had been settled by northern European immigrants in the 1800’s. Yes, their trip to NYC was as dangerous as it was exciting, but I’m happy to report they made it home safely ... to Chilton.

The good news is that the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is still on and the Rockettes are one of the performing groups.

College Football Seasons Politicized & Mostly Postponed

The Big Ten, Big East and the PAC 12 NCAA college football conferences announced that they would be cancelling their fall seasons. While the Sunbelt and Big 12 NCAA college football leagues have decided to move forward with their fall seasons. The Big Ten, Big East and PAC 12 conferences include college football teams from the north and western states, while the Sunbelt and Big 12 include college football teams from the deep southern states. Donald the Divider strikes again?

Through Rain, Snow, Sleet & CoVid - the U.S. Open Dashes on

weekend things to do nyc things to do manhattan brooklyn queens bronx staten island nycSo there’s a bit of good news.

The USTA plans to continue with the U.S. Open beginning August 31st at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Queens. The Western and Southern Open will also continue, preceding it beginning Thursday, August 20th through Friday, August 28th. Unfortunately, attendance at the U.S. Open will not be available to the general public for viewing, but rather on TV.

The Video Music Awards will not be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn as first reported at the beginning of the summer. The awards show will go on as scheduled on Sunday, August 30th, but at an outdoor venue or at an indoor venue but without a live audience.

And the Brooklyn Botanical Garden opened last weekend.

The weather is expected to be the best we’ve had in a while - see report above. So try to have a nice weekend.