SEATTLE — The Seattle school board has voted unanimously to begin the academic year with remote teaching only.
The Seattle Times reports the state’s largest school district approved the plan Wednesday.
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The remote learning plan passed with a wide-ranging amendment from school board members that directs the superintendent to explore creating outdoor classes. It also reinforces teaching of Black studies and curricula developed by Indigenous communities.
But the district’s plans are far from set because it is still bargaining with the teachers union. Those discussions will set the parameters for how teachers spend their time and for the support the district will provide in an online learning environment.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— 1,200 Alabama students home after positive test
— Companies test antibody drugs to treat, prevent COVID-19
— Science and politics tied up in global race for a vaccine
— A top official at the Federal Reserve criticized the decision by many states to reopen businesses this spring before getting the virus fully under control, saying those choices have hindered an economic recovery in the U.S.
— More than half of participating Milan fashion houses are preparing to present in-person previews for Spring-Summer 2021. Fashion houses next month will have social distancing and mask requirements.
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Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
BEIJING — New locally transmitted cases of the coronavirus reported in China have fallen into the single digits, but Hong Kong is seeing another rise in hospitalizations and deaths.
China’s National Health Commission said Thursday that eight new cases were registered in the last 24 hours in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, whose main city of Urumqi has enacted lockdown measures and travel restrictions to control China’s latest outbreak. An additional 11 cases were brought by Chinese returning from overseas.
Hong Kong, meanwhile, has 62 new cases, up from 33 on Wednesday, along with an additional five deaths.
The semi-autonomous southern Chinese city has required masks be worn in all public settings and limited indoor dining among other measures to curb a new outbreak.
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SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea has reported 56 newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus as new infection clusters continue to pop up across major cities.
The figures announced by South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday brought the national caseload to 14,770 infections, including 305 deaths.
Forty-three of the new cases were reported from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where health authorities have struggled to stem transmissions at churches, nursery homes, schools and shopping venues. Two of the new cases came from the southern port of Busan, the country’s second-largest city that has reported infections at schools and foreign cargo ship workers.
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UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that the cordonavirus pandemic not only threatens gains in fighting global poverty and building peace but risks exacerbating existing conflicts and generating new ones.
The U.N. chief told a Security Council meeting Wednesday that his March 23 call for an immediate cease-fire in conflicts around the world to tackle the virus led a number of warring parties to de-escalate or stop fighting. But, he added, “regrettably, in many instances, the pandemic did not move the parties to suspend hostilities or agree to a permanent ceasefire.”
Guterres predecessor as secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, told the council it is astonishing that the world has locked down billions of people, closed borders and suspended trade, but has failed to put conflicts on hold.
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HELENA, Mont. — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock says his state will begin paying the extra $400 in weekly unemployment benefits that President Donald Trump announced in an executive order over the weekend weekend.
A $600 federal payment expired in late July, and Congress has not allocated the money for the additional payments, so it may take weeks for the federal government to provide guidance.
But Bullock said Wednesday that Montana will use some of its $1.25 billion in coronavirus relief money to begin providing the additional payments to the state’s unemployed.
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SANTA FE, N.M. -- The school year is underway at some of New Mexico’s largest public school districts as teachers, students and parents deal with remote learning amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Albuquerque Public Schools started Wednesday as schools in the district have been distributing technology to students, making virtual home visits, and providing guidance to staff, students and families. The Las Cruces district outlined its protocols for instruction, technology and nutrition services for an all-online start Wednesday.
Whether New Mexico students return to the classroom later in the year will depend on the pace of the pandemic in the state. The state reported an additional 180 COVID-19 cases and two deaths Wednesday.
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is repeating his call to reopen the nation’s schools, and he again pressed Congress to steer future coronavirus funding away from schools that do not reopen this fall.
Trump made the remarks Wednesday at a White House discussion with parents, teachers and doctors who said they support a full return to the classroom.
Also joining Trump were Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Vice President Mike Pence, who said the health risks tied to keeping children at home are greater than those associated with the coronavirus.
Most of the nation’s largest school districts are planning to start the year with remote instruction as virus cases continue to rise.
As Congress negotiates a new round of virus relief, Trump has said school funding should go to parents if their local schools do not reopen for in-person instruction. He said Wednesday that he wants money to follow students, while Democrats want it to follow unions.
DeVos, a longtime proponent of school choice, added her support for Trump’s proposal. She says families need “options that are going to work for their child and their child’s education.”
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ROME — Italy is requiring coronavirus tests for people arriving from Croatia, Malta, Spain and Greece after a spate of new infections were registered in Italians returning home from vacation.
A health ministry ordinance approved Wednesday says travelers arriving from those four countries must show proof of a negative test in the past 72 hours, submit to a test upon arrival or go to the local Italian health service to be tested within two days.
The ordinance also adds Colombia to Italy’s blacklist: Visitors who have been to Colombia in the past 14 days are barred outright, as are visitors from around a dozen other countries.
Italy was the onetime epicenter of the European outbreak and is still seeing between 300-500 new cases a day.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has halted nursing home visits as both confirmed cases and deaths from the new coronavirus continue to surge.
Justice said at a news conference Wednesday that there are virus outbreaks currently at 28 nursing homes statewide.
Justice stopped nursing home visits in March and let them resume in mid-June. But the number of virus-related deaths in West Virginia has jumped 23% since Friday, pushing the total for the pandemic to at least 153. Multiple deaths have been reported this month at the Princeton Health Care Center nursing home in Mercer County.
Statistics show 26 of the 29 deaths reported statewide since Friday have involved people over age 70.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is seeking to reassure voters that nothing — including the coronavirus and skepticism about mail-in voting that’s been stoked by President Donald Trump — will stop the election and that it will be safe and secure.
The Republican issued on Wednesday a 48-point voting safety plan based on CDC guidelines to Ohio’s 88 county election boards that strongly recommends, but does not mandate, mask-wearing on Election Day.
He characterized the failure to wear a mask as rude and, like nose-picking, “just gross,” but said that his protocol makes accommodations to all voters. Those in-person voters who choose not to wear a face covering will be given options, including voting outside or using the curbside option, but they will not be stopped from voting inside if that’s their choice.
LaRose said requiring masks to be worn would step on people’s right to vote and place an unfair enforcement burden on poll workers.
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ATLANTA — Georgia’s largest school district struggled Wednesday to launch online learning for its 180,000 students, with parents complaining students couldn’t log in to Gwinnett County’s system.
Meanwhile, Cherokee County has quarantined 1,156 students after trying in-school learning, adding about 330 students to yesterday’s total. They are home because of possible coronavirus exposure since classes resumed last week.
About 70 students and staff members in the 40,000-student Cherokee County district have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to data posted Wednesday on the district’s website. It’s unclear whether any were infected at school.
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JACKSON, Miss. — The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi and the Mississippi Center for Justice filed a lawsuit over concerns about the state’s absentee voting law.
They filed suit against Secretary of State Michael Watson, who is the state’s top elections officer, and against circuit clerks in Hinds and Rankin counties.
The lawsuit asks a judge to issue a statewide declaration to allow absentee voting by people with health conditions that could put them in extra danger because of the virus. Mississippi only allows absentee voting for a few reasons. Plaintiffs include people who have had cancer or have other conditions, including lupus and asthma. The groups say the law is confusing and could be applied inconsistently during the coronavirus pandemic.
Legislators made a change that allows absentee voting by people quarantined with COVID-19 or caring for someone with the virus. The lawsuit says election officials could interpret the law differently in different places.
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ATHENS, Greece — Health authorities in Greece have announced 262 new coronavirus infections, the highest daily number since the outbreak began.
Two more deaths were announced, bringing the total death toll to 216. The total number of confirmed cases is 6,177.
Greece imposed an early lockdown that kept the number of infections and deaths low. But there’s been significant increase in the number of confirmed cases since restrictions were lifted and the country reopened to international visitors.
Authorities have imposed new restrictions in some areas, including ordering bars, restaurants and cafes in some of the country’s top tourist spots to shut between midnight and 7 a.m.
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BRASILIA, Brasil — The grandmother of Brazil’s first lady died Wednesday after more than a month fighting COVID-19 in a public hospital on the outskirts of Brasilia.
Maria Aparecida Firmo Ferreira, 80, was the grandmother of Michelle Bolsonaro, who is married to Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro. She had been hospitalized since July 1, having tested positive for the coronavirus.
The health secretariat of Brazil’s federal district confirmed her death.
President Bolsonaro and Michelle Bolsonaro were diagnosed with COVID-19 last month. The president, who has recovered, has consistently downplayed the severity of the virus.
Brazil has more than 3.1 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 103,000 deaths, ranking second highest in the world.