Staffers At 10 Queens Schools Test Positive For The Coronavirus

QUEENS, NY — Staffers at 10 Queens public schools have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Department of Education data released Tuesday night.

Each school had one confirmed case as of Monday, officials said. Every person who tested positive has been instructed to isolate, and the city's Test & Trace Corps and Department of Health are working on tracking down others who were in close contact with them.

The Queens schools with COVID-19 cases so far include a District 75 special education program in Maspeth, a high school in Northeast Queens and two schools in Astoria.

All the Queens schools have remained open.

"While we continue to navigate the realities of a pandemic, there will be positive cases," the Department of Education said in a statement. "We are putting people’s health above everything else by quickly identifying and isolating positive cases to prevent further transmission."

In total, staffers at 56 public schools have tested positive for the virus.

That includes two schools with two separate cases: P.S. 811X The Academy for Career and Living Skill in the Bronx and P.S. 139 in Brooklyn. Both were closed automatically for an initial 24-hour period for a deep cleaning and as officials investigated whether the cases were linked.

Outside the New York City public school system, a yeshiva in Far Rockaway was ordered closed after at least 13 cases of the virus were confirmed there, Politico New York reported. Department of Health officials arrived at the school Tuesday to shut it down after it continued holding in-person classes, according to Gothamist.

Students signed up for a mixture of in-person and remote learning are scheduled to return to the classroom Monday, though the already-delayed school year started remotely Wednesday with an online orientation.