As of April 12, 2021, the COVID-19 School Health Policy went into effect.  You may read the April 9, 2021 Update for Families from Chancellor Porter and Health Commissioner Chokshi at these links in English, Chinese, Korean, Bengali and Spanish. There are other languages available including American Sign Language video at this link.

 

In summary:

1.      There is no change to classroom closures. If there is at least one confirmed positive case in a class, regardless of the source of infection, impacted students will quarantine for 10 calendar days and transition to remote learning during this time. 

2.      If there are 2 or more positive cases in different classrooms within a school over a 7-day period, in addition to closing the impacted classrooms, COVID-19 surveillance testing will double from 20% to 40% of students and staff in the school on the next regularly scheduled weekly random testing day. 

a.      As a reminder, testing only applies to students in grades 1 through 12. 

3.      If there are 4 or more confirmed cases in different classrooms within a school over a 7-day period that can be traced to a known exposure within the school, the entire school will close for 10 calendar days and transition to remote learning. 

4.      Additionally, schools will no longer close for 24 hours while investigations take place. 

 

As a reminder, staff who are vaccinated do not have to quarantine in the event a class or school closure takes place, and may continue to work in-person. 

A more detailed explanation can be found at https://www.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/news/chancellor-s-message-for-families

Enjoy the day,