Coronavirus Cases Close 4 More Bed-Stuy Schools: DOE

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — Four more Bed-Stuy schools have been temporarily closed due to coronavirus cases detected in the building, bringing the total of schools closed in the neighborhood to six.

P.S. 308, P.S. 81, P.S. 305 and the Tompkins Children Center were all closed this week given at least two cases of coronavirus in each building, according to the Department of Education's map of active cases.

Each of the buildings will be closed until Feb. 10. They come as two others in the neighborhood are finishing up an extended closure that started last week.

According to the Department of Education's guidelines, school buildings must automatically close pending an investigation when at least two COVID-19 cases linked to each other are confirmed in separate classrooms. The closure is extended when the infections occurred outside of school or a link between them cannot be determined.

At P.S. 308, a classroom was closed on Saturday and then another on Monday, according to the map. P.S. 305 also had two classrooms closed, both on Saturday, before the school closure on Monday.

At P.S. 81, there were three classrooms closed on the campus between Friday and Monday, according to the map. The Tompkins Children Center only shows one classroom closed on Saturday before the closure on Monday.

The six schools are among nearly 200 across the five boroughs that were under coronavirus closures on Wednesday. There were 163 facing an extended closure and 25 under a 24-hour shut down as of Thursday, according to the map. A total of 790 classrooms were also closed due to the virus.

Elementary K-5 students, pre-K, 3K and special needs students are the only students currently going to classrooms. De Blasio has said middle and high school students will return to the classroom in February.