NYC Council to Vote on COVID Cases Transparency in Schools as 2nd School Goes Remote

Rising COVID-19 cases in a New York City elementary school have forced the school to become the second public school this academic year to briefly return to remote learning.

The 10-day physical closure of P.S. 166 in Queens on Wednesday comes as the city ramps up efforts to get newly eligible children aged 5 through 11 to get the vaccine, as well as the City Council is set to vote on a bill that would require the Department of Education to report exact numbers of school attendance, vaccination, testing consent and quarantine data.

As of Nov. 2, P.S. 166 reported that 19 students and three staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus, totaling 34 cases this school year. The DOE’s daily COVID case map shows that nearly half of the school’s 58 classrooms were in danger of closure, but the department allowed them to stay open during their investigation of the cases.

“New York City schools have the gold standard for health and safety – with all school staff vaccinated, and an incredibly low positivity rate of 0.19 percent. This is the first school closure since September but we stand ready to support – every student at PS 166 has a device so they can engage in live remote learning, and we are working closely with school community,” a department spokesperson said in a statement.

The investigation led the DOE to close down the classrooms beginning Wednesday — the same day a vaccination drive was set to be held there — and will reopen Nov. 22. The vaccination site will be rescheduled when students return to class, officials said.

Currently, 126 classrooms out of 65,000 across the five boroughs are quarantining, the DOE added.

Since NYC began inoculating younger kids last week, nearly 25,000 students have gotten vaccinated, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. That number is expected to continue to rise as vaccination drives roll out at public schools this week.