Media worries about the reopening of the New York City school’s have proved almost groundless according to the reports from officials…
New York has been keeping its overall virus infection rate around 1%….
(Except some hotspots)
For months, as New York City struggled to start part-time, in-person classes, fear grew that its 1,800 public schools would become vectors of coronavirus infection, a citywide archipelago of super-spreader sites.
But nearly three weeks into the in-person school year, early data from the city’s first effort at targeted testing has shown the opposite: a surprisingly small number of positive cases.
Out of 15,111 staff members and students tested randomly by the school system in the first week of its testing regimen, the city has gotten back results for 10,676. There were only 18 positives: 13 staff members and five students.
And when officials put mobile testing units at schools near Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods that have had new outbreaks, only four positive cases turned up — out of more than 3,300 tests conducted since the last week of September.
New York City is facing fears of a second wave of the virus brought on by localized spikes in Brooklyn and Queens, which have required new shutdown restrictions that included the closure of more than 120 public schools as a precaution, even though few people in them have tested positive.
But for now, at least, the sprawling system of public schools, the nation’s largest, is an unexpected bright spot as the city tries to recover from a pandemic that has killed more than 20,000 people and severely weakened its economy.
If students can continue to return to class, and parents have more confidence that they can go back to work, that could provide a boost to New York City’s halting recovery.
The absence of early outbreaks, if it holds, suggests that the city’s efforts for its 1.1 million public school students could serve as an influential model for school districts across the nation.
In September, New York became the first big urban district to reopen schools for in-person learning….
Long Island NY schools….
Reopening in the midst of a pandemic has worked out surprisingly well for most Long Island schools, at least for the first month of classes, educators and other experts said.
Since Sept. 8, the great majority of schools in Nassau and Suffolk counties have managed to function with a degree of normalcy, despite scattered closures and quarantines of students and school employees.
As of Saturday, public, private and charter schools in the Long Island region have reported a total of 588 COVID-19 positive test results among students and staff since Sept. 8. This region held an advantage, since its infection rates were among the lowest in the country….
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More than 400,000 students in the region have returned to classes, with most spending at least two or three days a week in school buildings. A smaller number — typically 15% to 35%, depending on the district — have opted for full-time remote instruction at home….
image…Credit…Mark Lennihan/Associated Press