COVID-19: NYC Quote of the Day 2020-08-30

Sunday, August 30, 2020, NYS Gov. Cuomo - Everybody Should Be Anxious to Get Back to a Safe School

Colleges are opening - colleges open sooner than K-12 and high schools. And colleges are having issues. So colleges to me are very much a canary in the coalmine. Colleges very much show what happens when you bring back a concentration of people, even with all the precautions, even with everything we know, because you still run into human behavior. Part of the college experience is socializing. I know many people, when they were in college, they went to parties, many of them consumed alcohol and did all those things. I studied when I was in college but I know not everyone was in the library when I was there. If the students act irresponsibly or the precautions are not in place, then the virus will spread and more dramatic action is going to have to be taken and needs to be taken. And if there is an outbreak on a college it's a concern for the college but it's also a concern for that local community and for the state.

I understand the tension between the school administration and the student population, but the lesson is always the same. If you are not prepared, if you don't have the right precautions, or if you don't enforce the precautions, then the virus spreads and then you have to take more dramatic action which is more disruptive and generates more negative energy.

So private colleges, I think if you are slow to enforce the rules, then the virus will spread and then you will have to take more dramatic action. A 3 percent infection rate, that's a high infection rate in a dense environment, like a dense urban environment where you have people taking public transportation.

It's one thing to have a plan that says you're going to do X number of tests. A plan on paper is one thing. Being able to do it is a second question that has to be asked and my advice to the K-12 is the same - err on the side of caution. If you go to in-person education and you are not prepared or you can't actually implement the plan and do it on day one, you will see the numbers go up and then you'll see more disruption. If you're not ready, better you start when you are ready.

Everybody is anxious to get back to school, but everybody should be anxious to get back to a safe school.
Edited for redundancy, grammar, and emphasis
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