Jersey City has announced its schools will be going remote, joining other big cities such as Paterson, Newark, Trenton and Camden.

The district made the decision Thursday afternoon, stating a surge in people testing positive for COVID-19 led them to the decision.

At this point, Jersey City will be remote only for one week at this point, returning to the classroom Jan. 10, while some districts chose to go remote for two weeks.

"I don't agree with it at all," says Alice, of Jersey City. "Kids should go to school. You have to at one point. Why not now. Just be careful and if you adhere to the rules you'll be OK."

According to the state's COVID dashboard, since the beginning of the school year, there have been more than 44,000 cases among students and more than 10,000 cases among school staff. The cases began to spike in mid-November.

Steve Baker, with the New Jersey Education Assocaiton, says, “We believe every district should look carefully and honestly at the data and make the decision that best protects the health and well-being of students and staff.”

"A week, it needs to be more than a week like a couple of months or something because it's scary sending your kids to school every day thinking he's coughing, got to go get a COVID test, it's scary, really scary," says Melinda Ellerbe, of Jersey City.

Officials say they will continue to re-evaluate the situation and COVID-19 cases.