Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave New York schools the green light Friday to reopen classrooms in the fall.

Cuomo’s announcement ended weeks of speculation about whether New York would follow others in delaying in-person education — and as the number of new coronavirus cases continued to tick down in a state that was once the nation”s pandemic hot spot.

“We are probably in the best situation in the country right now,” Cuomo said on a call with reporters. “If anybody can open schools, we can open schools and that’s true for every region in the state.”

But Cuomo’s announcement is not likely to be the last word on this contentious issue. There continues to be stiff opposition from teachers and parents to resuming in-class education, especially in New York City which has the nation’s biggest public school system with more than 1.1 million students.

Cuomo’s directive leaves it up to local politicians and superintendents to decide whether and how to reopen. And while Cuomo said schools can reopen if they are in a region where the average rate of positive coronavirus tests is below 5 percent, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would only open the city’s schools if the rate was below 3 percent.

New York, as of Friday, has reported 425,047 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 33,566 deaths. Most of the fatalities occurred during the spring when the pandemic was hitting the Northeast the hardest.

While the number of new cases in New York has been trending downward of late, there has been an uptick in new infections in the surrounding states, according to the latest NBC News analysis.

Meanwhile, the national death toll from COVID-19 climbed above 160,000 on Thursday and the U.S. was closing in on 5 million confirmed cases — the most in the world. Most of the new cases have been in the Southern and in the Sun Belt states that began reopening just as the coronavirus was starting to crest.

On Friday, Virginia recorded a single-day record 2,105 cases, NBC News figures show.

Other national developments:

• The recovery from the pandemic appeared to be flagging as the U.S. economy added 1.76 million jobs in July, down from the 4.8 million jobs that were restored in June, according to the latest federal Bureau of Labor statistics. Also, the unemployment rate ticked down from 11.1 percent to 10.2 percent. President Donald Trump quickly tweeted out “Great Jobs Numbers!” But experts said the new numbers were worrisome. “We are seeing evidence that the economic recovery is losing steam,” said Daniel Zhao, a senior economist at Glassdoor. “It’s not reversing, but it looks like growth is flattening out.” More than 23 million jobs were lost when the pandemic hit, wrecking the robust economy that Trump inherited from the Obama Administration. Some 16.3 million Americans are still out of work, the newest figures show.
• New studies this week by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have provided more evidence that wearing face coverings can slow the spread of the coronavirus. “Cloth face coverings are one of the most powerful weapons we have to slow and stop the spread of the virus — particularly when used universally within a community setting,” CDC chief Dr. Robert Redfield said. “All Americans have a responsibility to protect themselves, their families and their communities.” Experts say the main reason for the recent rise in COVID-19 cases has been the refusal –- mostly by quarantine-weary young people — to wear masks and practice social distancing. President Trump helped politicize the issue by initially refusing at first to wear a mask in public. He was wearing one when he toured an Ohio factory on Thursday.
• Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker put some teeth into the state’s mask and social distancing requirements by warning that businesses, schools, child services and other entities could face fines of $2,000 or more if they don’t enforce the rules. “As I’ve visited with and listened to mayors and health departments all across our state, it’s clear there is still an even greater need to get people to wear masks -– especially to protect frontline workers, whether they’re at the front of a store asking you to put on your mask or whether they’re responding to 911 calls to save those in distress,” Pritzker said in a statement.“These rules will help ensure that the minority of people who refuse to act responsibly won’t take our state backward.” Pritzker’s announcement came a day after the state reported a sharp increase in new cases, mostly in rural and suburban areas that have been more resistant to wearing masks.