[ti:US Schools Cannot Seem to Decide on In-person Learning] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]New York City reopened classrooms to many of its youngest students on Monday. [00:08.36]Like many other school districts across the country, [00:12.76]New York City still seems unsure about whether [00:17.52]in-person learning is safe from the coronavirus pandemic. [00:22.80]New York is the nation's largest school district, with 1 million students. [00:29.88]It shut down in-person learning just two weeks ago, [00:35.24]but decided to bring back children about age ten and younger. [00:41.04]Parents had pushed for reopening schools, [00:44.24]and the mayor decided the move was safe with increased testing. [00:50.28]School districts in Detroit, Boston, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and others, however, [00:58.72]stopped in-person classes or dropped plans to bring students back [01:04.60]because of increasing infections. [01:08.40]Shutdowns in some places and the return to school buildings in others [01:14.88]are happening as virus cases continue to rise across much of the U.S. [01:22.08]Nationwide, deaths are averaging about 2,200 each day. [01:29.04]That is the same level as the deadliest period of the pandemic [01:34.64]– last spring in the New York City area. [01:38.44]New virus cases are averaging close to 200,000 a day, [01:44.72]the highest level on record. [01:47.28]The number of Americans now in the hospital [01:51.20]has reached all-time highs, at over 100,000. [01:56.16]The virus is now blamed for more than 280,000 deaths in the U.S. [02:03.48]And there are over 14.8 million confirmed infections. [02:09.48]The crisis is expected to worsen in the coming weeks [02:14.16]because many Americans chose to ignore warnings to stay home [02:19.20]and keep away from others over the recent Thanksgiving holiday. [02:24.24]Health officials say the virus [02:26.72]does not appear to be spreading quickly in classrooms. [02:31.36]That's because children may be less likely to spread or get the virus. [02:37.88]Most cases among children and educators [02:42.04]have been linked to activities outside school. [02:45.76]Still, the infections are worrisome for parents and teachers. [02:51.72]Infections and quarantines among teachers and other school employees [02:57.96]have left some schools without enough adults. [03:01.64]At the same time, parents have said their children [03:06.28]are not getting a good education at home using their computers. [03:11.88]Parents are also being forced to watch their children [03:16.08]while trying to do their own jobs. [03:19.12]In South Carolina, COVID-19 cases have increased [03:24.28]to levels even higher than those seen when the state [03:28.64]was one of the nation's hot spots over the summer. [03:33.28]School district officials there are considering reducing [03:37.88]how much time students spend in the classroom. [03:41.72]More than 2,450 new COVID-19 cases [03:47.44]have been reported in South Carolina in each of the past three days. [03:53.52]One teacher group is asking school districts to go back to in-home teaching [04:00.12]until the increase can be stopped. [04:03.04]In addition to the health concerns, educators say in some cases [04:09.12]there are not enough teachers to keep students safe. [04:13.04]The request is being taken more seriously after the death last month [04:18.84]of 50-year-old Staci Blakely, a teacher in Lexington. [04:24.28]At least four school districts in South Carolina have returned to in-home learning. [04:31.04]The largest district is in Orangeburg County. [04:35.48]It sent around 12,000 students home to learn this week until at least January. [04:43.48]Only about 25 percent of the state's districts are teaching in person every day. [04:51.44]In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last month [04:56.80]that school buildings would close after the city reached [05:00.84]the 3 percent level of positive coronavirus tests. [05:06.12]The city reports the rate is now 5 percent. [05:10.16]But de Blasio said new testing protocols made it safe to reopen classrooms. [05:17.60]He added that few infections have been linked [05:20.76]to the spread of the virus inside schools. [05:24.60]"This is a good day for New York City," de Blasio said Monday. [05:29.72]Miriam Petrovitch is a school employee [05:33.44]who welcomed children back at a school in Manhattan. [05:37.52]"We miss them dearly," she said. "There's no school without children." [05:44.20]I'm Susan Shand. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM