NEW ORLEANS - Schools in Orleans Parish will not start the fall semester with any in-person classes, officials announced Tuesday.

According to WWL-TV, the parish school system will stay entirely remote when students begin classes in August. Courses will remain virtual until at least after Labor Day, when officials are hoping for a proper return to classrooms.

The announcement comes about three weeks before the school year is set to begin.

New Orleans was the area in Louisiana hit hardest by the coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic. Cases have spiked across the state in the past month after it began phase 2 of reopening in early June.