COVID-19 Updates

STAYING HEALTHY AT SCHOOL

Vaccination is currently the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. People who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are at low risk of symptomatic or severe infection. Currently, people 12 years and older are eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations.

In partnership with the DOHMH, the NYCDOE is emphasizing the use of multiple layers of protection against COVID-19 and encouraging those who are eligible to get vaccinated. Strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 include:

• Properly wearing a face covering at all times when on DOE property;
• Increasing ventilation, wherever possible;
• Washing and sanitizing hands regularly;
• Staying home when sick, after being in close contact with a person with COVID-19, or if someone in your household is exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms;
• Ensuring students maintain a distance of at least three feet from other students; and most importantly,
• If eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, getting the vaccine.

PHYSICAL DISTANCING

Following CDC and NYSED guidance, schools should provide a minimum of three feet of physical distancing, where possible. Three feet distancing is not required for passing between classes and in some elevators. 

For certain activities, including lunch, additional safety measures will be used. When eating, students must maintain three feet of physical distance 

FACE COVERINGS (MASKS)

Mandatory use of face coverings must be enforced for all individuals (unless they have a medical exemption) while on school property, on school buses, and on any school-sponsored transportation, regardless of the individual’s COVID-19 vaccine status.

COVID-19 SURVEILLANCE TESTING

Regular COVID-19 testing provides school communities and public health experts with valuable information. Every school, starting in grade 1, will have 10% of their consented, unvaccinated student population selected twice a month for ongoing random surveillance testing. Families can give consent for testing through their student’s New York City Schools Account (NYCSA).

DAILY HEALTH SCREENINGS

To ensure that staff and students do not report to school if they have or potentially may have COVID-19 or are feeling ill, a health screening must be completed, ideally at home, by all students, staff, and visitors before entering NYCDOE school facilities. Students and school-based staff can or cannot report to school based on their results of the NYCDOE’s daily health screener:

NYCDOE families/students are encouraged to use the online health screening tool to pre-screen themselves before entering a NYCDOE building. Upon entering the school facility, families/students will be asked to provide the results of their screening either by showing the email on their smartphone or a printout of the results. Families should support students as needed with this online screening questionnaire and should ensure students have proper documentation for morning entry.

For students who travel on their own to school or via school bus, families must complete the screening, including checking their child’s temperature prior to leaving the school or boarding a school bus to make certain that their child is well enough to ride on the bus and attend school. 

If NYCDOE families are unable to pre-screen their child(ren) at home using either the online tool or paper questionnaire, families will need to complete their child’s screening in-person at the school building prior to their child’s entry.

STUDENT PICK UP

If a student fails a health screening or shows symptoms of COVID-19, the student will be assessed by the nurse on site. If it is confirmed that the student is showing symptoms of COVID-19, the guardian of the student will be immediately contacted and advised to pick up the child. 

CRITERIA FOR RETURNING TO SCHOOL AFTER SHOWING SYMPTOMS

Any individual (student or staff member) showing signs of COVID-19 can only return to school when all the following conditions are met:

• Received a positive COVID-19 test AND
• Isolated for 10 days AND
• The individual has been fever free for 24 hours without the use of medication and overall symptoms are improving.

OR

• Received a negative COVID-19 test since the onset of symptoms (the negative result must have been from a test that tested saliva or used a nose or throat swab, not a blood test) AND
• The individual has been fever free for 24 hours without the use of medication and overall symptoms are improving.

OR

• Never got a COVID-19 test AND
• At least 10 days have passed since symptoms started AND
• The individual has been fever free for 24 hours without the use of medication and overall symptoms are improving.

OR

• Was vaccinated against COVID-19 within the past three days AND
• The individual has been fever free for 24 hours without the use of medication.