Classes at CUNY and SUNY will mostly be held online.
New York’s state and city public university systems, which have a combined enrollment of over 650,000 students in undergraduate and graduate programs across dozens of campuses, will conduct most classes online starting March 19, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Wednesday.
The State University of New York system has more than 60 campuses, while the City University of New York system has about 20 colleges and community colleges in New York City, including Brooklyn College, City College, Queens College, and Hunter College.
Neither system will cancel all in-person classes. Laboratory courses could continue to be held, although potentially with fewer students.
Some dormitories will probably remain open for students who cannot return home for hardship reasons.
“They are not evicting anyone,” Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference. “They are not closing the dorm and kicking you out.”
The purpose of the move was to “reduce density,” the governor said.
Some SUNY and CUNY graduation ceremonies will probably “not be happening in person” this spring, said Melissa DeRosa, a top aide to the governor.
The decision to shift most public university classes in New York online followed similar moves by most major private universities in the state this week. However, private universities like Columbia and New York University have not said the suspension of in-person classes would last through the rest of the spring semester, which typically ends in May.
SUNY’s student government body, the Student Assembly, released a statement on Wednesday saying students “appreciate” Mr. Cuomo’s decision.
The latest numbers: More than 200 cases in New York.
On Wednesday Mr. Cuomo confirmed 39 additional cases of the coronavirus, bringing the state’s total to 212.
More than half of that total, 121 cases, were in Westchester County. Thirty-two people in the state are hospitalized, Mr. Cuomo said. New York City had 48 confirmed cases of the virus, with 12 new cases announced on Wednesday.
In New Jersey, Gov. Philip D. Murphy announced eight new cases of the virus, bringing the state’s total to 23, including a man who was the first in the state to die in connection with the virus.
Globally, more than 120,000 people have been infected with the virus and more than 4,000 people have died, according to official counts. On Wednesday morning, the World Health Organization called the outbreak a global pandemic.
In the United States, the number of known cases of coronavirus infection passed 1,000 on Tuesday night, with cases in 38 states and Washington, D.C. At least 31 people have died.
In an interview with MSNBC, Mr. Cuomo said that he intended to ask business leaders in New York to allow workers to telecommute to help stem the spread of the disease.
He also slammed the federal response to the virus, likening it to the botched reaction to Hurricane Katrina.
“What I’m saying is at least get out of the way,” Mr. Cuomo said of federal officials. “The horse is out of the barn.”
The New York International Auto Show has been canceled, but the St. Patrick’s Day Parade has not.
State officials were exploring the possibility of canceling several large gatherings in New York, including the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan, Mr. Cuomo said in a television interview on Wednesday.
Mr. Cuomo said that he had spoken to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose “strong recommendation” was to “reduce large gatherings” like the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan on March 17.
“Why would you risk bringing thousands of people together knowing this is a virus that is easily communicable?” Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference. “St. Patrick’s Day is one of the great convenings of a large number of people. If you listen to the experts, they are saying you should not have a St. Patrick’s Day convening at this time, which I believe makes sense.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday said that city officials were talking to organizers of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which draws thousands of people, about whether to proceed with the celebration.
His thinking on the event — that an outdoor event posed less public health concern than a large indoor gathering — had changed, he said.
“Now people are legitimately saying, hold on, it may not be the parade itself, it may be the ancillary realities,” Mr. de Blasio said. “People crowded on the subway to get to the parade or on Metro-North for example. People going to a bar afterward. That’s what we are assessing right now.”
Already, the spread of the virus has prompted several postponements or cancellations at the Javits Center in Manhattan, one of the biggest and busiest convention centers in the country.
On Tuesday afternoon, the organizers of the New York International Auto Show, an annual 10-day event that is the center’s biggest draw of the year, rescheduled it for August.
The Javits Center’s calendar is now blank through mid-April. Other events that would have filled that gap include a flower show, a hairstyling show, two jewelry industry gatherings and one of the eyeglass industry’s biggest annual events.
A number of other events have also been canceled by organizers this week. Among them was a meeting on “doing business during coronavirus” set to be hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations.
A store owner is accused of selling homemade hand sanitizer that injured four boys.
A shopkeeper who owns a 7-Eleven in New Jersey is accused of selling a caustic hand sanitizer that burned the hands of four boys in Bergen County on Monday.
The store owner combined a foaming sanitizer, which was not meant for sale, with water and hawked it in her store in River Vale in an effort to capitalize on coronavirus fears, the authorities said.
The police responded after seeing posts on social media of burns to one of the boy’s arm and leg.
The store sold 14 bottles of the concoction, and the store owner is charged with deceptive business practices and endangering the welfare of children, Bergen County’s prosecutor, Mark Musella, and the state’s attorney general, Gurbir S. Grewal, announced.
“Retailers who try to make a quick buck by exploiting others will face civil and criminal consequences,” Mr. Grewal said in a statement.
New York City cancels in-person parent-teacher conferences at public schools.
New York City school officials announced late Tuesday that parent-teacher conferences scheduled at public schools this week would not be held in person, and would be conducted over the phone or by video chat instead.
Public schools in Scarsdale will be closed through March 18.
Many of New York City’s best-known private schools — including the Brearley School and Brooklyn Friends — said they would close until after spring break, meaning many students would not return to school until March 30 at the earliest.
The Marlene Meyerson J.C.C., a Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, closed on Wednesday and Thursday after a child who attended a program there tested positive for the virus.
Broadway is taking steps to limit the virus’s threat.
With the coronavirus outbreak widening, Broadway actors are being asked to temporarily halt the tradition of greeting fans at stage doors as a way to limit the possible spread.
“We are highly recommending that all stage door activities be eliminated for the time being,” the Broadway League, which represents producers and theater owners, said on Tuesday.
There are currently 30 shows running on Broadway, and so far overall attendance has held steady. ]
The state creates a ‘containment area’ in New Rochelle.
With New Rochelle, a small city just north of New York City in Westchester County, emerging as the epicenter of the state’s outbreak, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday announced a targeted containment strategy to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
“New Rochelle, at this point, is probably the largest cluster of these cases in the United States,” he said at a news conference.
The state’s plan focuses on a “containment area” in New Rochelle, where it would deploy the National Guard to clean schools and deliver food to quarantined residents, Mr. Cuomo said.
The area is a one-mile radius centered around a synagogue in New Rochelle believed to connect many of the cases in the cluster, officials said.
Schools, houses of worship and other large gathering spaces within the area will be closed for two weeks beginning on Thursday, Mr. Cuomo said. Businesses such as grocery stores and delis will remain open.
The state did not plan to close streets or institute travel restrictions, Mr. Cuomo said.
“You’re not containing people,” he said. “You’re containing facilities.”
The cluster in Westchester first came to the authorities’ attention last week, when a lawyer who lives in New Rochelle and works in Manhattan, Lawrence Garbuz, became the second person in New York to have the coronavirus diagnosed.
Reporting was contributed by Michael Gold, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Jeffery C. Mays, Patrick McGeehan, Jesse McKinley, Michael Paulson, Eliza Shapiro and Tracey Tully.