Coronavirus: Newsom warns most schools could be closed until summer as lockdown expands

PUBLISHED: March 17, 2020 at 5:29 p.m. | UPDATED: March 18, 2020 at 7:23 a.m.

Most of California’s schools could remain shuttered for the rest of the school year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom warned Tuesday.

More than 98 percent of California’s student body — about 6.1 million students — have had their classes cancelled so far, Newsom said. While many school districts have only announced closures for a few weeks, Newsom said it was unlikely that most would open again before their summer breaks in May or June.

“Don’t anticipate schools are going to open up in a week,” he said in a press conference at the state’s emergency headquarters. “It’s unlikely that many of these schools — few if any — will open before the summer break.”

“Boy, I hope I’m wrong, but I believe that to be the case,” based on experts’ assessments of the level of social distancing required to beat back the growing epidemic, Newsom added.

Due to the shutdowns, California has requested a federal waiver that would allow the state government to not require standardized testing this year. Students “already have enough anxiety” as it is, Newsom said.

Beyond schools, the Bay Area’s unprecedented shelter-in-place order expanded to three new counties Tuesday, placing a vast swath of Northern California under virtual house arrest.

Monterey, Sacramento, and Sonoma counties joined the seven others that had already ordered residents to stay home for the next three weeks except for essential activities, leaving highways near empty on Tuesday and shuttering thousands of Bay Area businesses.

The number of coronavirus cases in California had reached 472 statewide as of Monday night, about a 17 percent increase from the previous day, Newsom announced, adding that 11 people had died from the virus in total.

A large portion of the newly confirmed cases were in the Bay Area. Santa Clara County — the hardest hit county in the state — said that its total cases rose to 155 on Tuesday, with 17 new cases and five deaths, while Contra Costa reported a total of 39 and Alameda County now at 30. In San Mateo County, officials reported 22 new cases, bringing its total to 64.

On a day when the virus reached all 50 states in the country — with one case confirmed in West Virginia, the last holdout — most Northern Californians were watching the news from their homes.

Residents under shelter-in-place orders are allowed to go outside only for “essential” reasons such as to get health care, shop for supplies, assist family members and get exercise. Most businesses are closed, except essential businesses such as supermarkets, gas stations, pharmacies and health care facilities. Restaurants statewide are only allowed to stay open for takeout and delivery, Newsom has said.

Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties started the lockdown order on Monday, with officials saying it would last until April 7 and could be extended longer.

Newsom’s prediction about school closures raises the prospect that millions of parents around the region could be going back to work in coming months even as their kids’ schools remain closed.

The governor said he understood the magnitude of what that would mean for the state’s families as a parent himself. On Monday night, he said, he came home to find that one of his daughters had “thrown her bunny rabbit on the floor, her pillows, most of the rest of the bed.”

She was “expressing deep stress and anxiety that she wasn’t in school — I had never heard those words from her,” Newsom said. “I told her, ‘honey, I don’t think the schools are going to open again.'”

If the governor’s prediction comes true, California wouldn’t be the only state with students out of school for that long. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly ordered all schools in her state closed for the rest of the academic year on Tuesday — something Newsom has not done.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/17/coronavirus-newsom-warns-most-schools-could-be-closed-until-summer-as-lockdown-expands/