The school field stood vacant in the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex before restrictions only took effect at midnight when the coronavirus pandemic spread on March 19 in Los Angeles, California. David McNew / Getty Images
California schools will reopen when data shows it is safe to do so, according to California Governor Gavin Newsom
“I’m not worried about the latest tweet,” he said, in thin veiled reference to President Trump.
“We need to overcome the reopening of schools safely. “For me it cannot be negotiated,” the governor said at a press conference.
The reopening of schools will be based on local conditions in the state, but Newsom added that “we must insist on studying at the beginning of the school year.”
“Given our current data and the continued community transmission of this deadly virus, schools should prepare a distance learning plan that is ready to be implemented if our data show that this is the safest way forward,” the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in a statement to CNN.
Anticipating that schools will continue to be the topic of conversation, Newsom pleads with the public that reopening depends on behavior.
“We can roll over and accept the spread and transmission with behavior that leads to this,” Newsom said. “Or we can do more to practice personal responsibility with face masks and masks and physical distances that will reduce spread.”
