With coronavirus infections and deaths rising, educators from California are opting for online learning

News24xx.com - The school year begins in a few weeks in the United States. But with coronavirus infections and deaths rising in many parts of the country,  makes educators from California to Wisconsin are opting for online learning rather than a return to classrooms.

As information, Florida reported a record increase in COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday with 133 death. The state recorded more than 9,000 new cases on Tuesday, down from 12,000 on Monday and a record increase of 15,000 on Sunday.

Read more: 116 students in a Mississippi school district have been sent home for a two-week quarantine

Mayor of Tampa Jane Castor blamed the recent surge on the recent easing of economic restrictions, adding that test results often take as many as 7-10 days, complicating data-collection efforts and delaying critical decision making.  

Schools from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Fort Bend County, Texas, joined California's two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, in announcing plans to keep teachers and students from the close contact that classrooms demand.

The decision puts the districts at odds with US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to withhold federal funds or remove tax-exempt status if they refuse to reopen classrooms, even though most schools are financed by state and local taxes.

Read more: The coronavirus pandemic has caused the largest disruption in education in history after many schools closed

Trump's campaign views the reopening of classrooms, enabling parents to get back to work, as a key to economic recovery and a boost to his re-election chances on November 3.

Los Angeles and San Diego schools said in a joint statement on Monday that countries that have safely reopened schools have done so only after establishing declining infection rates and on-demand coronavirus testing.

US coronavirus cases rose in 46 of 50 states last week and the number of deaths rose nationally last week for the first time since mid-April and about six weeks after cases began to increase, according to a Reuters analysis.

With more than 3.3 million COVID-19 cases, the US ranks first in the world in cases per capita, according to a Reuters analysis, and with 135,000 deaths, ranks seventh in deaths per capita among the 20 countries with the most cases.