B’way star Comer forced off stage

BY CAYLA BAMBERGER, JOSEPHINE STRATMAN AND CHRIS SOMMERFELDT

Outdoor activities in New York City at public schools, along with planned concerts, sporting events and other happenings across the city — including a Yankees game — were canceled Wednesday due to ongoing poor air quality, as dangerous smoke from Canada wildfires enveloped the city for a second day.

School took place as scheduled, but principals were directed to move indoors or cancel recess, field trips, sports and other school-sponsored events scheduled for outside, according to an education department memo sent after midnight.

“Children may also be more susceptible due to poor air quality because their lungs are still developing,” said Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan at a Wednesday morning briefing.

The Yankees game against the White Sox scheduled for Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium was postponed, as was the matchup between the Liberty and the Lynx at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.

On Broadway, Jodie Comer, up for a Tony Award for her engrossing performance in “Prima Facie,” stopped the one-woman show about 10 minutes into its Wednesday matinee after declaring onstage that she was struggling to breathe. She was replaced by an understudy.

Across the city, New Yorkers of all ages are also facing a slew of cancellations due to the air quality — including meditation groups, concerts and protests.

Legendary Blues musician Taj Mahal was supposed to headline BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!’s opening night in Prospect Park with Corinne Bailey Rae. That was canceled, too.

“The health of our staff and the communities we serve is the number one priority for BRIC and we can’t, in good conscience, risk the wellbeing of our friends and neighbors who may have high risk health issues,” BRIC President Wes Jackson wrote in a statement around 1 p.m.

All branches of Brooklyn Public Library closed early for the day at 3:30 p.m., a spokesperson announced less than ten minutes before.

Among other closures are a summertime jazz concert outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall and a volunteer event Food Bank For New York City where Morgan Stanley employees were supposed to help distribute 27,000 meals.

The Writers Guild of America called off their picketing for the day in a Twitter announcement Wednesday morning. The guild urged members to take care of their health while the smoke hangs over NYC. A rally by taxi drivers in front of Gov. Hochul’s New York City office was also called off.

Schools and families scrambled around midnight and into Wednesday morning to respond to the late guidance.

I.S. 230 parent Lindsey McCormack struggled to decide whether to send her son, who has an inhaler for breathing issues, on a field trip outside Poughkeepsie. The end-of-year trip was supposed to include swimming, horseback riding and bungee jumping, she told the Daily News. It was unclear why the trip went forward despite the new restrictions.

“I was on the fence,” she said. “My husband and I were like should we keep him home? It felt like COVID again. But he really wanted to go, so we sent him with a mask.”

“Out West, there’s actually guidelines. You know what’s going to happen because there’s standards — but we don’t have any standards,” McCormack added. “The more timely communication is what we’re missing.”

At the briefing, Schools Chancellor David Banks said no schools should be hosting outdoor activities today.

“The entire system has been fully notified,” he told reporters. “There are no trips that should be planned. There is no outdoor activity today. We are in the midst of a serious situation — and we don’t want to put the health of any of our kids in jeopardy.”

Some indoor NYC public school events were canceled too.

A district town hall with the chancellor at P.S. 306 in the Bronx scheduled for Wednesday evening was postponed due to poor air quality, despite the school remaining open during the day. Another district-wide event — the science, technology, engineering and math exposition at P.S. 333 in Manhattan’s School District 3 — was canceled in response to the air quality emergency without a rescheduled date.

“While we would have liked to have had the opportunity to celebrate our students’ work across several subject areas, we must safeguard the health and safety of everyone in our community,” wrote Superintendent Kamar Samuels in an email reviewed by the Daily News.

Students will not attend school Thursday for a relatively obscure district holiday, Anniversary Day — previously known as Brooklyn-Queens Day.

Teacehrs and other staff, who’d been scheduled to come in for a professional development day, will instead participate in the sessions remotely from home, according to texts from the teachers union to its members.