3 Upper East Side Schools Shuttered By Coronavirus Cases

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Three Upper East Side schools were among well over 200 school buildings across the city that sat empty on Friday due to confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the Department of Education.

Each of the schools closed within the past week. The first, P.S. 198 Isador E. Ida Straus/P.S. 77 Lower Lab School on Third Avenue, shut down for 10 days starting Monday. The schools had confirmed at least one case in five separate classrooms, according to the DOE's map of active cases.

On Tuesday, the Yorkville Community School building on East 88th Street closed for 10 days after shutting down one classroom. And on Friday, P.S. 169 Robert F. Kennedy, also on East 88th Street, closed for at least 24 hours after confirming cases in two different classrooms.

Buildings are forced to close pending an investigation when at least two COVID-19 cases linked to each other are confirmed in separate classrooms.

That closure is extended to 10 days when infections occurred outside of school or a link cannot be determined. (That length of time was shortened from 14 days earlier this month, based on new health guidance.)

The number of temporary or extended closures across the city stood at 266 as of Thursday evening. That marks a drop from last week, when the total had reached 373 — a record high so far in the pandemic, equivalent to about a third of all school buildings.

A total of 1,043 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.

Patch reporter Anna Quinn contributed.