Astoria School Closes Amid COVID Uptick, Assistant Principal Says

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Another school in Astoria is closed amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

The Saint Demetrios School, a K-12 private school in Astoria, will be remote at least through Monday Nov. 22 after several members of the school tested positive for COVID-19, Helen Karagiorous, the school's assistant principal for grades 7-12, told Patch on Tuesday.

"It was precautionary for us to shut down," Karagiorous said, adding that the decision to close this week came after two fifth-graders and an unvaccinated teacher who had been around multiple cohorts of students tested positive.

The uptick brings Saint Demetrios' total case count for this school year to 6, meaning cases have doubled in the last two weeks.

Karagiorous, however, doesn't consider the recent increase in cases an outbreak, especially since the two sick middle schoolers and the high school teacher were in separate buildings.

"The school board and the superintendent of the school system felt it would be safer to just shut down the entire system, since there are siblings involved," Karagiorous said.

During the closure everyone in the school — including students, staff, and faculty — are required to get tested for the coronavirus and the school buildings are being professionally cleaned; a precaution that Saint Demetrios already takes on a regular basis.

While Karagiorous refuted a rumor that at-school masking is optional — explaining that students need to wear masks at all times except while they are eating or behind dividers at their desks — she noted that the school doesn't require vaccination as part of its COVID-precautionary measures.

Saint Demetrios "highly recommends" vaccination but do not require it, Karagiorous said, adding that "80 percent" of staff is vaccinated, and some have medical or religious exemptions.

Notably, the teacher at the center of this most-recent uptick was not vaccinated, Karagiorous said. Saint Demetrios, however, isn't planning to change its vaccination requirements as of now.

"It becomes more or less an independent decision by communities," she said, noting that the independent school board that oversees Saint Demetrios is currently split on mandatory vaccination, while Archbishop Elpidophoros of America of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is a prominent pro-vaccine figure.

"Our goal is to stop the spread with siblings [and] other classmates, so I think as of now we did OK and hopefully we'll be back in commission on Monday," she said.

The Saint Demetrios closure comes after a week when two public schools — including one in Astoria — were forced to temporarily close amid COVID-19 outbreaks, bringing the total number of COVID-related school closures in NYC to three this academic year.

Despite this spike, the demand for vaccination at NYC public schools has exceeded expectations, Mayor Bill de Blasio said last week, when the city began administering Pfizer vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-olds following federal authorization.