Hi friends,
There are so many reasons to stay home this week. The weather is turning wetter and colder, the coronavirus continues its relentless spread, and reckless drivers continue to kill cyclists.
Here’s your opportunity to clean out your coat closet. The Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene is collecting clean and usable winter coats and non-perishable food this Saturday. They are partnering with COVID BAILOUT NYC to support people newly released from Rikers Island, which has the highest infection rate of any location in the city. These returning citizens often have too few resources and support.
Please help bail out those who cannot afford bail today. On Saturday, December 19, deliver coats and canned food to LAPC at 85 S. Oxford St in Brooklyn between 12 and 3 PM.
With the 7-day average virus positivity rate exceeding 6% last week in the city, questions about the viability of in-person education are back at the forefront. Council members Brad Lander and Mark Treyger raised serious concerns in a letter to Chancellor Carranza about the effectiveness of the Situation Room that is managing information, testing, and contact-tracing for the schools.
More than 489 classrooms were closed as of Friday, while 30 buildings were closed for 24 hours, and 28 more were shuttered for two weeks, according to Situation Room data. That means about 32% of buildings that reopened this week quickly closed again, for at least one day.
It’s a lot for principals to manage, and they need better support, the Council members said. Within 30 minutes of a school case being identified, principals should have a dedicated team of contacts, Lander and Treyger urged.
Their letter cited the case of a public school with five positive coronavirus cases within 24 hours.
More than 1 in 4 of the positive cases among public school students and staff since October 9 were uncovered in the last week. Public health officials do not believe that the schools are a major cause of the spread of the virus, but with the recent holiday surge and the closure of indoor dining to take effect today, the increase in cases at schools is unsurprising.
There is some indication that Google classroom may be down today. Russian hackers?It’s 2020, so all bets are off. Anyway, you can always assign your middle schooler to the coat closet.
Have a good day!
with love,
L