NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Officials say there has been a coronavirus outbreak at a Queens elementary school.
Public School 166 Henry Gradstein in Astoria will now have to go fully remote for 10 days, CBS2’s Christina Fan reported Wednesday.
Hours before the school was set to offer COVID-19 shots to its students, parents received a concerning email from the principal.
“It’s alarming, it’s alarming. I’m still trying to process it right now,” one parent said.
“I’m surprised. I don’t feel good about it. I don’t feel comfortable,” neighbor Meire Fodor added.
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From Nov. 3-9, 22 students and three staff members tested positive, bringing the total number of cases at the school this year to 37, officials said.
Parents who came to pick up iPads for remote learning Wednesday overwhelmingly agreed it was the right decision.
“I told him that his teachers care about it, his mother cares about it, and the school is working on it and not to worry. Because children, they do worry, they get scared,” parent Marisol Quinones said.
It marks the second time this fall that COVID cases shut down a New York City school. Public School 79 in East Harlem closed days after the school year started after 19 cases were reported.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said because more people are vaccinated, the threshold for closing down a school this year is different than last year.
“I think the fact that we’ve been up with the schools — September, October, November — and it has only been a couple of times is pretty amazing and it speaks volumes to all the precautions that we have taken to create a safe environment,” de Blasio said.
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The latest closure comes as the city began launching pop-up COVID vaccination sites at schools for kids ages 5 to 11.
Public School 166 was supposed to be the location of a clinic Wednesday afternoon. Parents said this latest outbreak is all the more reason to sign up.
“It is enough reason to get vaccinated. If one student gets infected, there is a concern among other parents. They should take a step so that it’s not spread across the school community,” Mohammad Houssain said.
The Department of Education said the vaccine clinic for 166 will be rescheduled for when school reopens. Students are expected to report back on Nov. 22.
from CBS New York https://ift.tt/2Izr88c
