Nearly 600 Coronavirus Cases In NYC Schools After Buildings Open

NEW YORK CITY — The city’s public, private and charter schools saw nearly 600 students and staff test positive for the coronavirus in the weeks since classrooms reopened, according to state data.

The “COVID-19 Report Card” run by the state finally updated with New York City-specific data after a delay following its launch. The site, which lists all positive coronavirus tests by school and district, shows 305 cases among the city’s public school students and staff as of last week.

The numbers appear to confirm Mayor Bill de Blasio’s assertions that public schools aren’t major sites of coronavirus infections, despite the recent return to in-person learning and recent coronavirus hotspots.

“We're not seeing any unusual number of students or staff anywhere in the city testing positive,” de Blasio said on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show last week. “What I think is fair is the school environment has been made extremely safe, and I thank you and all educators and everyone in the schools, because with the social distancing, the face mask wearing by everyone, the cleaning, everything has been working in the schools.”

The picture is slightly different in private and charter schools, according to state data.

A roughly equal number of positive tests — 291, to be exact — were found among private and charter school students, the data shows. What is noteworthy is enrollment at those schools accounts for about 30 percent of all students citywide, according to the Manhattan Institute.

De Blasio has repeatedly pointed out that even within coronavirus “red zones” in Brooklyn and Queens now under temporary, localized lockdowns there are few cases in public schools — there were three in his last update. Meanwhile, there have been reports of private schools — notably a yeshiva in Far Rockaway — with multiple confirmed cases.

Of those positive tests for private and charter schools, 108 came from “off-site” or remote students or teachers and 183 from pupils and staff who were “on-site,” according to the state.

It should be noted there are no positive cases yet recorded on the state’s report card among public schools’ remote learning students and teachers. The site updates daily and those numbers could change.

As it stands, there are 596 positive cases reported at all city schools, public and private, according to the data.

Click here to see COVID-19 test data for a specific school or citywide.