New York City will require public school teachers and staff to get vaccinated against Covid-19, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Aug. 23, part of a push to get more residents inoculated and slow the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

New York City’s public schools will begin to reopen for in-person learning on Dec. 7, starting with elementary schools for students whose parents agree to weekly tests for the novel coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.

The U.S. death toll from Covid-19 surpassed a grim new milestone of 250,000 lives lost as New York City’s public school system – the nation’s largest – called a halt to in-classroom instruction, citing a jump in coronavirus infection rates.

Students in Boston’s public schools will shift to remote learning due to the rising Covid-19 infection rate in the city that was ravaged by the pandemic in the spring.