Coronavirus Cases Close South Slope School Building: DOE

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A school in South Slope was closed on Monday after multiple coronavirus cases were reported over the weekend, according to the Department of Education.

P.S. 10 — also known as the Magnet School Of Math Science and Design Tech — was one of seven New York City schools marked closed on the department's map of active COVID-19 cases on Monday. The other six schools were in Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens.

At P.S. 10, the closure comes after three cases were reported at the school over the weekend.

The first two cases, reported Saturday, were linked so they did not require a full building closure per DOE policy, according to the department. The third case, though, was unrelated to the first two, prompting officials to close the school for 24 hours.

"We won’t hesitate to take quick action for the health and safety of our school communities, and that’s exactly what we did when positive cases were identified at PS 10," a spokesperson said. "We have the most comprehensive testing system in the country, and we don’t hesitate to take quick action when there are positive cases. We will continue to provide our schools all of the resources and support they need for a safe, healthy, and successful school year.”

Per DOE policy, one or two cases in the same classroom prompts a closure of that room and requires all close contacts of the person to quarantine for 14 days.

A school building is closed when there are at least two cases from different classrooms, from an activity or exposure outside of school or when the link between them cannot be determined, according to the DOE.

A classroom was also closed at P.S. 10 because of a coronavirus case last week, though that closure is no longer on the "active case" map.

P.S. 10 falls just a block outside the "yellow zone" for Brooklyn's coronavirus cluster, which has been facing different levels of restrictions for the last two weeks.

There have been nearly 600 coronavirus cases in New York City's pubic schools since the return of students to in-person classes.

As of Monday, there were more than 30 buildings with at least one active case in Brooklyn.

Check the full map of active cases here.