On Thursday afternoon, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) announced that schools across the state would remain closed to in-person instruction for the rest of the academic year. Prior to the announcement, schools in the state were scheduled to be closed through April 30.

Rhode Island became the 41st state in the country to close schools to in-person instruction for the rest of the academic year. So far this week, eight other states have also announced year-end closures. The 41 states with year-end closures account for 84.8% of the 50.6 million public school students in the country.

Of the nine states that have not announced that schools will for the remainder of the year, four have Democratic trifectas, two have Republican trifectas, and three have divided governments.

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