The safety of NYC needs to looked at. Some of the risk associated with COVID has gone down since the vaccine became available. However, over 50% of children ages 5-17 in NYC are unvaccinated, which puts them at a greater risk for severe or even life-threatening symptoms if they catch the virus. On top of that, 28% of public school students were absent on Tuesday, January 4th. At the moment, school is only spreading COVID and taking teachers and students away from classrooms. For this reason, schools need to close temporarily now to nip the problem at the bud instead of exacerbating it. The longer the city waits to take action, the longer schools will have to stay closed when they are inevitably forced to switch to remote learning. Remote options also need to be offered for students who are out with COVID or don't feel comfortable going to school in person so that they don't miss out on important class assignments and discussions, and better safety and testing precautions need to be put in place to prevent COVID cases from rising.