Italy closes its schools

One case becomes 10 in the N.Y. suburbs

A W.H.O. expert discusses China’s fight

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Italy closes all its schools

The country ordered all schools — from day care centers to universities — to shut down until at least March 15 as the outbreak there grew rapidly. Italian students will join hundreds of millions of children who’ve been forced to stay home because of the coronavirus in China, South Korea, Iran, Japan, France, Pakistan, the United States and elsewhere.

The closings are an extraordinary public health experiment, with many ripple effects. The burden is likely to fall particularly hard on women, who across the world still perform most child care duties.

Gao Mengxian, a security guard in Hong Kong, has stopped going to work so she can watch her daughters. Masks are pricey, so she ventures outside just once a week. She spends most of her time helping her daughters, 10 and 8, with their online classes, fumbling through technology that leaves her confused and her daughters frustrated.

“They’re always saying: ‘When can we go out to play? When can we go to school?’” Ms. Gao said.

A case swiftly becomes a cluster in New York

One coronavirus case, a man of around 50, has quickly led health officials to discover at least nine more infected people around the New York City suburb of New Rochelle. They include the man’s wife and two children; a friend who drove him to the hospital; a friend who was in “close proximity” with the man; the friend’s wife, and three of their children.