These 4 Upper East Side Schools Are Closed For Coronavirus Cases

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Four school buildings on the Upper East Side have closed in recent days after reporting positive coronavirus tests, as the city tries to keep its public schools open for young students.

The four buildings all contain elementary schools, which are the only schools that have reopened thus far since a citywide surge in COVID-19 cases shuttered most of the city's public schools in November.

According to the Department of Education's guidelines, school buildings must automatically close pending an investigation when at least two COVID-19 cases linked to each other are confirmed in separate classrooms. The closure is extended to 14 days when the infections occurred outside of school or a link between them cannot be determined

The first Upper East Side building to close was P.S. 6 Lillie D. Blake on East 81st Street, which shut down for two weeks starting Dec. 14 after positive cases were confirmed in at least two classrooms, according to the DOE's online map.

The remaining three schools all closed starting Monday. P.S. 183 Robert Louis Stevenson on East 66th Street and the Yorkville Community School on East 88th Street both shut down for two weeks after confirming cases in at least two separate classrooms.

P.S. 158 Bayard Taylor on York Avenue closed for at least 24 hours on Monday after confirming cases in two of its rooms starting Saturday.

On nearby Roosevelt Island, the Roosevelt Island Day Nursery has been closed since Dec. 15, according to the DOE map. Further uptown, three East Harlem school buildings were likewise closed as of Tuesday.

The MORE caucus, a branch of the United Federation of Teachers, has raised alarms about rising case numbers since schools reopened. Mayor Bill de Blasio has defended the reopening, pointing out this week that the positivity rate in schools stood well below the citywide average.

"We continue to work in lockstep with public health officials who are clear that in-person learning poses no greater risk of COVID-19 transmission to students and staff and has not been the source of any widespread outbreaks," said DOE spokesperson Nathaniel Styer. "We have the gold standard in safety measures and respond quickly to positive cases in order to stop any potential spread within the school community."

Full coverage: Hundreds Of NYC Schools Under Coronavirus Closures Ahead Of Break