NY Mayor De Blasio: Preparing to shut down schools if covid testing positivity rate rises further

New York City ()NYC) is preparing to shut down schools if coronavirus testing positivity rate continues to rise, Mayor Bill de Blasio said early Friday.

His comments come as the city nears a 3% coronavirus positivity rate, which is the threshold for closing down in-person learning.

Key quotes

"No one wants to see that happen…there's still a chance to turn that around, obviously, but we're preparing for that possibility,"

"It's a rule we've put out there very clearly. And if any day we see in the morning, the indicators come out and have reached that level then we will move immediately and the next day, schools will be shut down."

"Everybody's preparing, but our schools are open today and we're going to maintain hope."

Heading into the weekend, markets remain wary amid the ongoing surge in the virus cases globally, including the US, with fourteen states, mostly in the Midwest, reported record numbers of hospitalizations on Thursday.

The recent spike is also prompting states to reimpose restrictions.

Market reaction

The risk-off mood remains the main underlying theme in Asia this Friday, with the regional equities and US stock futures under pressure.

S&P 500 futures are down 0.30%, trading around 3,522, at the time of writing. Meanwhile, the US dollar index is holding onto the recent upside around 93.00.