NYC Mayor de Blasio: 'Stringent Standard' Led to School Closures

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Thursday defended the call to close the city's public schools after 3% of the COVID-19 tests in the city came back positive, saying that the current surge of cases is a serious concern and the city needs to "reset the equation."

"My kids went to New York City public schools," the mayor told "CBS This Morning." "I really do feel what parents are going through ... I said from the beginning, we would be led by data and science. [This is] the largest school system in America."

Schools reopened in September, and the city set a "clear standard" for closing their doors again for a period of time, and that was if the tests went above a 3% positivity rate, said de Blasio. 

Host Gayle King pointed out that other cities and states have higher thresholds for closing schools, and the World Health Organization's guidelines suggest a 5% positivity rate. 

But the mayor said the lower number is in place because New York City early on was at the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the United States. 

"We set a stringent standard, [and] a whole lot of other health and safety standards, distancing, face masks for everyone, kids and adults alike," said the mayor. "We proved schools would be safe. We said if that rate went higher, we were going to stop, pause, reset. Our schools are going to come back, but they're coming back with additional safety standards."

De Blasio also defended the benefits of closing schools, saying they are greater than the economic losses experienced. 

"The benefit is keeping people alive, keeping people safe," he said. "A lot of people truly believed it would never be safe for our schools. We have to keep faith with people, show we'll keep them safe."

De Blasio also emphasized that he supports in-person education and wants to reopen schools "with the right standards."

"Obviously once the vaccine is here, we are going to distribute it quickly in New York City, get schools back in a deeper way," said the mayor. "I think we lost something with our kids and what we've got to do is continue to improve education, make sure every kid has a device that needs them, get them back in the classroom as quickly as we can safely do it."

• Private Schools Chart Own Path as de Blasio Shuts NYC System
• New York City Schools to Close Again as City Fights Virus