Upper West Side School Staffer Tests Positive For Coronavirus

Upper West Side NY

18 September, 2020

4:55 PM

Description

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — An employee at an Upper West Side public school tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing their close contacts to be quarantined, the city announced Friday. The staffer works at P.S. 165, the Robert E. Simon School, on 234 West 109th Street. It was one of 21 new coronavirus cases that the Department of Education (DOE) announced Friday in which the staffer had reported to the school building. It comes after staff returned to school buildings on Sept. 8 to prepare for the school year, which started remotely this week. The city also announced confirmed COVID-19 cases at 14 city school buildings where the employee who tested positive had not been present in the building. DOE protocol does not automatically close down a school if one coronavirus case is detected, though, staff have the option to work from home while contact tracing is completed. In-person learning, set to begin Sept. 21 citywide, was abruptly pushed back for most students on Thursday. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the youngest students will return to school Monday, while older students will arrive through a phased-in reopening through Oct. 1. It was the second time the city delayed students' return to classrooms. The city had tested 19,000 school employees through Friday, with a positivity rate of .33 percent, the DOE said. Patch reporter Nick Garber contributed to this report.