Onondaga County to close all schools

Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon declared a state of emergency Saturday and announced the temporary closure of county schools amid the spread of the novel coronavirus.

All schools in Onondaga County will close Friday at 4 p.m. until April 13 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, McMahon said at a press conference. All non-essential school activities, including field trips and extracurriculars, are canceled effective today.

The novel coronavirus causes COVID-19, a respiratory disease that has spread to at least 135 countries, infected at least 142,539 and killed over 5,000. There are currently 524 confirmed cases of the virus in New York state, none of which are in Onondaga County.

The county conducted 26 tests that all came back negative, McMahon said. All schools will close Wednesday if there is a confirmed case of the virus in the county, he said.

The decision to close schools was made collectively with McMahon, Mayor Ben Walsh and school superintendents, Walsh said at the press conference.

“This gives us time to plan and to prepare,” Walsh said. “We need to use the time that we have effectively.”

McMahon acknowledged that many children, especially in the city of Syracuse, receive free lunch from school. He said waiting until Friday to close schools will give administrators and county officials time to work out issues related to childcare.

Parents who wish to keep their child home this week will not face repercussions for absences, McMahon said. Parents should not ask grandparents to look after children since the elderly are most susceptible to contracting the virus, he said.

“We believe that the steps we’re taking today will help give us more time to respond and more time to help our robust infrastructure hold under this potential test of COVID-19,” McMahon said.