NYC schools to close again after virus uptick

New York City's mayor says he's shuttering schools to try to stop the renewed spread of the coronavirus. It's a painful about-face for one of the first big U.S. school systems to bring students back to classrooms this fall.

The mayor and schools chancellor announced Wednesday that school buildings will close Thursday.

Students who were part the city's blended learning model, part in school, part virtual, will not go to full time virtual school

"Please don't do this to us. Please keep the schools open," said Edy Castro, who was picking her daughter Analynn up from an after school program in Manhattan.

"This is a lot pressure for the parents. We're all talking about this. Cuomo, what the H are you doing?, said Castro.

"It's super unfortunate that these kids are going to be denied an education, but we can go eat dinner inside a restaurant," said another parent Lakey Wolff. "It absolutely makes no sense."

The city had said since summer that school buildings would close if 3% of all the coronavirus tests performed citywide over a seven-day period came back positive.

The mayor says the city has now hit that mark. The city's more than 1 million public school students will now be taught entirely online, as most already are.