Only 4 Positive Coronavirus Tests In ‘Yellow Zone’ Schools: Mayor

NEW YORK CITY — Schools nestled in “yellow zones” near local coronavirus hotspots have only had four confirmed cases in three weeks of testing, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

“Again, the story of the schools continues to be a really good one,” he said Friday on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show.

De Blasio’s reassurance came as city officials amp up two waves of school-focused COVID-19 tests. One is a citywide effort that requires monthly random tests at all school, the other a state-mandated weekly round of tests in schools that remain open on the periphery of new “red” and “orange” zones where the virus clustered.

Tests in those “yellow zone” schools began Friday, de Blasio claimed. His assertion contradicted an ABC7 report that those tests were delayed and quoted Chancellor Richard Carranza as saying they would begin next week.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday alluded to city troubles obtaining enough tests to conduct the required checks. He said he will send 200,000 rapid test kits in those "buffer zones" around coronavirus clusters.

There have been 3,229 tests conducted as of Friday of students and staff in yellow zone schools, de Blasio said. Those tests have found only four cases, he said.

All the city’s schools, public and private, have seen 652 positive coronavirus tests since Sept. 8 of students and staff who have been inside a school building, according to the state’s “COVID-19 Report Card.” Of those, 438 were in public schools.