The school closures come as the U.

S death toll from Cove in 19 surpassed a record quarter million lives lost, while state and local officials reimposed social distancing restrictions across the country.

New York City's 1.1 million public school students have followed a staggered part time system of classroom instruction and online learning since September.

But Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday they would revert to distance learning after the city's virus infection rate hit 3%.

And I want to emphasize to parents to educators to staff to kids that we intend to come back and come back as quickly as possible.

New York City, once the US epicenter of the pandemic, has seen a lay autumn resurgence of the virus after a summertime lull and now joins other large school district's like Boston and Detroit and canceling in person learning.

41 states have reported record increases in daily Covad 19 cases this month.