NYC Teachers Fret about Safety as COVID-19 Cases Spike

By Hadassa Kalatizadeh

New York City teachers are concerned about safety with the spike of COVID-19 cases and city schools remain open. “We know that community spread is the main driver of school cases, so the risk is increasing and there’s no threshold to close schools amid rising rates,” said Annie Tan, a teacher in Sunset Park whose school is in a zip code where the rolling positivity rate over the past seven days has reached 15 percent.

As reported by the NY Post, NYC has Coronavirus infection rates as high as 17 percent, in the areas of Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park, as per city data. Mayor de Blasio tweeted on Saturday that the city average for positivity over seven-days increased to 9.39 percent. He noted there are 3,648 new cases and 201 new hospitalizations. In response, teacher Lisa Pines, tweeted, “You cannot open schools on Monday — it will be over 12% by Monday January 4. Save lives!”

Back in November, the mayor had agreed with the teachers’ union and closed all NYC schools for three weeks, when the citywide, 7-day positivity rate had reached 3 percent. Now, though the Mayor seems reluctant to completely shut schools again. “Based on all that I know, and conversations I’ve had with our health care leadership, we all agree that schools should stay open throughout the remainder of the school year,” the mayor told NBC on New Year’s Eve. Questioned as to whether he would guarantee that, de Blasio answered, “I don’t get to make the final decision, the state does.”

The Department of Education and teachers unions are also trying to ease teachers’ fears. “We have the gold standard in safety measures including weekly testing and mandatory face coverings, and don’t hesitate to temporarily quarantine a classroom or building in order to keep schools safe,” said DOE spokeswoman Miranda Barbot.

“Our experience so far has been that the actual infection rate in schools has been very small, including in hard-hit neighborhoods, but we will be monitoring results closely as in-school testing begins again Monday,” said a spokeswoman for the United Federation of Teachers.

The rise in cases in schools has lead those affected classes and/ or buildings to quarantine. The day before Christmas break, Dec. 23, had the highest one-day total of infections— 145 with 62 students and 83 staff members infected, as per DOE data. As a result, 1,049 classrooms were closed, with 249 school buildings shuttered for 14 days, and 43 buildings closed for 24 hours or more.