Coronavirus Closes Brooklyn School, Cases Found At 12 Others

BROOKLYN, NY — Another Brooklyn school has been temporarily closed after two people in the building came down with coronavirus, according to education officials.

P.S. 811 Connie Lekas School in Sheepshead Bay was among 13 Brooklyn schools that reported new coronavirus cases between Friday and Monday, education officials said Tuesday.

It was the only building among the 13 schools that reported two cases of COVID-19, causing the Department of Education to temporarily close it on Tuesday to investigate. DOE protocol requires any school with two cases within seven days to close temporarily.

The rest of the 13 schools reported just one case of coronavirus, five of which were among people who had not been in the building.

The new cases came in the run-up to Tuesday's return of elementary and middle students to in-person classes. High school students are set to return to buildings on Thursday.

The Sheepshead Bay school is the third in Brooklyn to close because of COVID-19 since staff started reporting back to their buildings on Sept. 8. A daycare in Williamsburg and P.S. 139 in Flatbush also temporarily closed and have since been reopened.

For the new cases, Brooklyn schools where the person with coronavirus had been in the building include P.S. 108 Sal Abbracciamento in Cypress Hills, Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School in Mapleton, Ralph A. Fabrizio School in Bay Ridge, a District 20 Pre-K Center, Phyls Academy in East Flatbush, Shore Parkway Head Start in Bath Beach and Inner Force Tots in Brownsville.

All close contacts of the person with coronavirus have been quarantined since the case was reported, education officials said.

The SEEALL Academy in Borough Park, P.S. 327 in Brownsville, Lafayette Educational Campus in Bath Beach, the Cobble Hill School of American Studies and The Bergen Elementary School in Sunset Park also reported a coronavirus case, but the person had not been in the building.

Stay up-to-date with news about coronavirus in schools by checking this page: MAP: Brooklyn Schools That Have Reported Coronavirus Cases, which will be updated as new cases are reported, or by subscribing to your local Patch.