2 Upper East Side Schools Shuttered By Coronavirus Cases

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Two school buildings on the Upper East Side sat shuttered due to coronavirus cases on Friday, even as new federal guidance sparked hopes that the city could welcome back students more quickly.

P.S. 6 Lillie D. Blake, on East 81st Street near Madison Avenue, closed for 10 days starting Thursday after confirming COVID-19 cases in three separate classrooms.

Then, on Friday, Cassidy's Place, a preschool on East 86th Street near First Avenue, closed for at least one day after confirming cases in two classrooms.

School buildings are required to close temporarily when at least two COVID-19 cases linked to each other are confirmed in separate classrooms. Temporary closures are extended to 10 days when infections occurred outside of school or a link cannot be determined.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a new guidance Friday that schools could welcome back elementary school students while maintaining only three feet of social distancing between students — down from the previous minimum of six feet.

Shortly after the news broke, Mayor Bill de Blasio said his administration was still reviewing the guidance, but that he was "very happy to hear this news."

"If it does work for us, we'll obviously want to move quickly," de Blasio said Friday morning on WNYC.

As of Thursday evening, the number of temporary or extended building closures across the city stood at 225 — down from January's record high of 373. A total of 1,010 classrooms were closed this week due to the virus.