Two Employees at PS 811X and 17 Other Schools Test Positive For COVID-19, Close For 24 Hours

PS 811X on Longfellow Avenue in the Bronx. (Susan Watts/New York Daily News)

So let's get the Department's policy correct: When staff test positive for COVID-19, the school closes for 24 hours. That's a great idea, and we are to assume that during those 24 hours the school will be sanitized from ground to roof. I'm not sure of that.

Next we hear from the Daily News that 17 other schools had staff who tested positive, but we aren't told which ones because the sick employees are self-isolating and Test & Trace Corps. is investigating all confirmed cases for anyone who came into contact with the co-workers who got the virus. 

Whew, that's a relief.

If you believe it.

I don't.

I think the Department must share the names of all schools where employees got sick. Then we can all follow up with whether or not sufficient testing of all in attendance was done, and whether the school is being cleaned.

 Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

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Bronx school closes after two staffers test positive for COVID; 

17 other DOE staffers have tested positive across NYC

By MICHAEL GARTLAND

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |

SEP 11, 2020 AT 5:01 PM

A Bronx elementary school had to be shut down after the city Education Department confirmed two people there tested positive for coronavirus.

The school, PS 811X in Crotona Park, will remain closed for 24 hours under city COVID protocols that dictate closure when two cases are confirmed within seven days of each other in the same location.

“As we get ready for in-person learning, we’ll stop at nothing to ensure principals, teachers, and school staff have the protections they need to stay safe and prepare for the school year,” said Education Department spokeswoman Miranda Barbot. “We are putting people’s health above everything else by quickly identifying and isolating positive cases.”

The Department of Education also confirmed Friday that a total of 17 other school workers throughout the city have tested positive since returning to work.

The schools they work in did not however meet the threshold requirements for closure because they were isolated to one worker per individual school.

Barbot declined to name the 17 other schools where workers tested positive but noted that those employees are self-isolating and the city’s Test & Trace Corps is investigating all confirmed cases to determine whether anyone connected to them needs to quarantine.

The Department of Education has so far tested approximately 15,000 staff members with most results coming back within 48 hours.

Testing is free and available to all DOE employees. Mandatory random testing will begin on Oct.

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Here is more news:

2 Brooklyn Teachers Test Positive For COVID-19 Amid School Prep

New York City Patch

BROOKLYN, NY — At least two teachers in Brooklyn have tested positive for the coronavirus just two days into staff's return to classrooms to prepare for the school year. One teacher at M.S. 88, also known as the Park Slope Education Complex, and another at P.S. 001 Bergen School in Sunset Park tested positive for the virus, the Department of Education confirmed to Patch.