The mayor said children had experienced increased emotional turmoil in the last year during the pandemic, saying in the news conference earlier this month, “Think about the children we’ve lost to suicide.”
“Think about that child that right now is feeling a little hopeless and lonely, what it’s going to mean for them on Monday, March 22nd, when they walk back through the door of their high school, see their friends, see their teachers, and have hope again,” de Blasio said.
Sports to return next month
High school sports are set to resume in April, city officials said, touting the positive impact they can have on student athletes’ mental health. But there will be “strict safety protocols” in place, and de Blasio tried to temper parents’ expectations, saying sports events “can’t have big crowds.”
“We have to protect everyone,” he said, “so this is about giving kids a chance to participate.”
New York City’s teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers, told its members in an email Friday it was consulting medical experts about the guidelines. The group said the physical distancing rules “would be extremely complicated to implement” in New York City public schools.
Following the release of the CDC’s updated guidelines Friday, Mayor de Blasio announced the city was preparing to allow more students to opt into in-person learning, with an initial focus on pre-K and elementary school students. More details are expected Monday.
De Blasio said Friday he’d been told that more than 40,000 educators had been vaccinated, but he believed the number was much higher.
The mayor has committed to a full reopening for all city schools in the fall.
CNN’s Eric Levenson, Elizabeth Stuart and Ralph Ellis contributed to this report.
