Positive coronavirus tests in New York City schools this fall will trigger closures of classrooms or entire school buildings while investigators from the city’s Test and Trace Corps probe for evidence of a wider outbreak, officials have announced.
The New York Daily News reports that officials say the new regulations will provide clear ground rules for schools dealing with positive cases. Parents, students and staff can self-report positive coronavirus tests to school officials, who will relay the information to the test and trace corps.
“We are doing everything in our power to keep kids healthy while ensuring they are getting the education they deserve. These rigorous test and trace protocols will keep our students and staff safe as we start off this new school year,” says Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The reopening plan for the school system, the nation's largest, calls for sending students to school in-person on some days and having remote learning on the other days.
If students or staff in the same classroom get sick, that classroom will shut down and transfer to remote learning while disease detectives investigate, and the classroom will remain closed for 14 days after the investigation.
If at least two people in different classes but the same school get sick, the entire building will be shut down for an investigation. The buildings will remain shut for 14 days if investigators can’t pinpoint where and how the cases were transmitted. If they do track down the links, only the classrooms of the infected students or staff will close for two weeks.
Education Department officials say the test and trace investigations usually last between one and three days. Families will be contacted by 6 p.m. each night about whether the school will be open the next day, officials added.
City schools staffers are expected to get a Covid test in the days leading up to the Sept. 10 start of classes, and will get priority at the city’s 34 public hospitals, which offer free testing, officials say.
Each school building will be required to create an “isolation room” for kids or staffers who are feeling sick. Not all city schools have full-time nurses, but officials say the rooms will be staffed either by “health professionals” or a “dedicated staff member.”
