Closing Down the Schools Over Coronavirus – The New York Times

[Want to get New York Today by email? Heres the sign-up.]

Its Monday. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, officials are urging a reduction in gatherings. As such, we are temporarily suspending our event listings.

Weather: Bright in the morning, then building clouds; high in the mid-40s.

Alternate-side parking: In effect until April 9 (Holy Thursday).

New York Citys public schools will begin shutting down this week, Governor Cuomo announced yesterday afternoon, in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Hours later, Mayor de Blasio announced that he would soon order all bars and restaurants to close, limiting them to takeout and delivery.

Mr. de Blasio said that the schools would be closed today for all students and staff, but that teachers would be asked to report to work later in the week for training on remote learning. By March 23, the city will move to remote learning, and the school system will be closed except for several dozen buildings that will be used as learning centers to support the children of essential city workers like health care employees.

Schools will be closed until at least April 20, but could stay closed for longer, Mr. de Blasio said.

City school buildings will remain open this week for children to pick up food, and then the city will find alternative sites for students who need food to receive it. Students who do not have computers at home will be lent laptops, and the city will work on helping students who do not have internet access get online.

[Read more on the decision to close the citys schools, and find the latest coverage on nytimes.com.]

Around 10 p.m., Mr. de Blasio issued a statement saying that he was closing restaurants and bars, effective Tuesday at 9 a.m. He said his executive order would limit restaurants, bars and cafes to takeout and delivery. Nightclubs, movie theaters, small theater houses and concert venues must all close.

This is not a decision I make lightly, he said. These places are part of the heart and soul of our city. They are part of what it means to be a New Yorker. But our city is facing an unprecedented threat, and we must respond with a wartime mentality.

[Everything is a black hole: Mounting dread in the age of coronavirus.]

Mr. Cuomo called yesterday for private businesses to voluntarily close and have their employees work from home. And Mr. de Blasio ordered hospitals in the city to cancel all elective surgery, postponed an election for the Queens borough president and closed city senior centers.

The states presidential primary election could be moved from April 28 to June 23, the date of another scheduled statewide vote, officials said yesterday.

State courts will postpone many criminal cases indefinitely and stop performing all but the most essential functions to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, officials said.

In addition, all eviction proceedings and pending eviction orders have been suspended statewide until further notice.

New York State had 732 confirmed coronavirus cases officials said. The largest concentration of cases was in New York City, where 329 people had tested positive. Of the six deaths in the state from the virus, five were in the city.

College in the Coronavirus Era: Wistful Goodbyes and a Sense of Loss

Stirring Sermons About Coronavirus, in Empty Cathedrals

Two Boys Jumped Into the Hudson River. They Havent Been Seen Since.

At the Library, Last Call for Beauty and Books

Want more news? Check out our full coverage.

The Mini Crossword: Here is todays puzzle.

Orders to marijuana delivery services have reportedly seen a sharp increase since the coronavirus outbreak. [Complex]

Amazon is buying the former Lord & Taylor flagship building in Midtown for $1.15 billion. [The Street]

A Brooklyn man was reunited with two police officers who saved his life as an infant nearly 30 years ago. [New York Post]

The Timess Rebecca Halleck writes:

In the 17th century, Brooklyn was Breuckelen. Harlem was Haarlem. And Wall Street was an actual wall to keep the English from marching south on the Dutch colony of New Netherland.

Before the Treaty of Westminster in 1674, Britain and the Netherlands had spent two decades locked in a global game of capture the colony. As part of the pacts terms, the Dutch surrendered Manhattan to the English and in exchange legitimized their control of several islands and other territories around the world, including the sugar-rich Suriname.

Several readers recently asked The Times what inspired the Dutch to trade Manhattan for Suriname and if there were remnants of Dutch history remaining in New York City today. Their questions are part of a project from The Times that invites readers to join in our reporting process.

Though it may seem like there was a simple swap of land, that would be an oversimplification, according to Charles Gehring, the director of the New Netherland Research Center in Albany.

The English had controlled Manhattan for nine years, and mostly left alone a Dutch settlement on the southern tip of the island, before the summer of 1673. Then, 600 Dutch marines sailed into New York Harbor, emboldening Dutch settlers to take up arms against English troops.

The Dutch emerged victorious, renaming the whole island New Netherland. They signed it away 14 months later.

The Dutch probably saw the writing on the wall, Mr. Gehring said. They were basically surrounded by the English colonies in the North and the tobacco farms in the South.

But there were also economic factors at play: The supply of beaver fur that initially brought the Dutch to the Hudson Valley was dwindling, while the demand for sugar, a crop grown in tropical climates like Surinames, had skyrocketed.

Centuries later, here are four places you can see traces of New Netherland:

The Lovelace Tavern on Pearl Street: It was accidentally discovered by excavators searching for Stadt Huys, New Netherlands City Hall, which was built in 1641.

The Schenck Houses at the Brooklyn Museum: The older of the pair was built by Jan Martense Schenck around 1675, and it survived in its original location for 275 years before being disassembled and reconstructed inside the museum in 1952.

Wyckoff House in Brooklyn: The one-room house was constructed in 1652 and is thought to be the oldest building in the city. It has a packed-dirt floor and was the home of Pieter and Grietje Claesen and their 11 children.

The Dyckman farmhouse: The house was built in 1784, after the original farmstead was destroyed during the Revolutionary War. The site was once the centerpiece of a farm covering 250 acres of Upper Manhattan.

Its Monday know your history.

Dear Diary:

I was on my way to meet some friends for lunch. I was wearing my green dress with white polka dots. A young woman stopped me as I left the subway station.

That is a great dress, she said.

I was out to dinner one night at a local restaurant. I was wearing the polka dot dress again. When the waitress brought the check, there was a note at the bottom.

Best dress of the day, it said.

Another time, two men complimented me on my polka dots as I was leaving church one Sunday.

I bought a new red dress with white polka dots. I was wearing it one night while waiting for the light to change on West End Avenue. A car that was turning slowed down, and the window rolled down.

Love the dress, the woman who was driving shouted as she passed by.

That was when I realized that polka dots rule.

Catherine Henihan

New York Today is published weekdays around 6 a.m. Sign up here to get it by email. You can also find it at nytoday.com.

Were experimenting with the format of New York Today. What would you like to see more (or less) of? Post a comment or email us: nytoday@nytimes.com.

See more here:

Closing Down the Schools Over Coronavirus - The New York Times