New York schools to remain closed
New York’s schools and colleges will remain shut through the end of the academic year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.
The order, which applies to 4.2 million students statewide, continues a shutdown that had been set to expire May 15. The Democratic governor said it is simply too risky to reopen when the virus is still sending nearly 1,000 people to the hospital every day.
“We don’t think it’s possible to do that in a way that would keep our children and students and educators safe, so we’re going to have the schools remain closed for the rest of the year, we’re going to continue the distance learning programs,“Cuomo said.
A decision about whether to allow summer school inside classroom buildings will be deferred until the end of May, he said. Whenever schools are allowed to reopen, each district’s plan would need state approval.
Schools nationwide are evaluating whether they will keep the institutions closed, and potentially even continue remote learning in the fall.
Court orders release of migrants
A federal judge ordered authorities to release hundreds of immigrants from three Florida detention centers to prevent a wider spread of the coronavirus and protect detainees with underlying conditions.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke issued an order late Thursday for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin the steps to bring down the number of detainees from 1,400 to about 350 within two weeks.
In Miami, seven detainees at the Krome Detention Center have tested positive for COVID19. And court filings state at least eight staff members have been infected at the same detention center.
The judge said she found violations of the Fifth and Eight Amendments that protect due process and against unusual punishment as conditions are worsening each day at Krome and authorities have failed at practicing social distancing at one of the other facilities.
Meat processing plant to restart
A South Dakota pork processing plant will partially reopen Monday after shuttering for more than two weeks because of a coronavirus outbreak that infected hundreds of employees.
Smithfield Foods asked about 250 employees to report to the plant on Monday, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers union local. The union said it was informed Thursday about the partial reopening.
The company asked that employees who are sick or who might be more susceptible to severe illness and death from the virus — those over age 60 or who have existing health problems — to stay home, according to the union.
Protesters demand lifting of controls
A few hundred protesters chanting and carrying signs gathered Friday in Chicago to call for a statewide lockdown to be lifted.
The rally took place at a building where Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, and other state officials have offices.
Demonstrators carried signs that read, “We demand Illinois opens now!,” “Reason over fear” and “The cure is worse than the disease.”
Others stayed in cars, circling the block and honking their horns and waving American flags out their windows.
Among the organizers of the protest was Freedom Movement USA. It’s website said its members were avid supporters of President Trump.
Roads sealed off in stricken city
The governor of New Mexico invoked the state’s Riot Control Act on Friday as she sealed off all roads to nonessential traffic in the city of Gallup to help control a surging coronavirus outbreak in the former trading post city on the outskirts of the Navajo Nation.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also announced a ban on routine outings and required that businesses close from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. in the city of about 70,000 people.
COVID19 infection rates in Gallup and surrounding McKinley County make it one of the worst U.S. hotspots for the pandemic as patients overwhelm intensive care facilities.
Lujan Grisham said the virus has surged in McKinley County and physical distancing is not being maintained among residents.
“A problem in one part of our state, with a virus this contagious, is a problem for our entire state,” she said.