LIC School Where COVID Cases Nearly Tripled To Stay Open: DOE

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Students will continue to learn in-person at a Long Island City school that was under investigation this week amid an uptick in COVID cases — which mirrors a citywide coronavirus positivity trend.

At least four students and one staff member at P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell, a K-8 school located at 37-15 13th Street, have tested positive for the coronavirus in past week, meaning that cases have nearly tripled in the last seven days, data shows.

An investigation into these cases, however, did not prompt the school to close, meaning the Department of Education and the Department of Health didn't find evidence of "in-school [coronavirus] spread," which is the city's litmus test for closing a school.

The uptick in cases at P.S. 111 comes as the omicron variant rapidly spreads through New York, reportedly doubling the citywide COVID positivity rate in three days.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has led the fight for in-person learning throughout the pandemic (and is potentially poised to run for governor on an education platform), says schools are less impacted by the COVID spike than the rest of the city, adding that he will ramp up staffing if necessary.

"Schools are markedly in better shape by far than the rest of the city, they're much safer than any other place in the city right now," said de Blasio during an omicron-focused briefing on Wednesday, pointing out that while hundreds of classrooms are temporarily remote, only one of the city's 1,600 schools is fully closed.

That trend tracks at P.S. 111, where 10 classrooms have closed in the past two days amid the recent spate of cases — most of which were detected on Wednesday, Dec. 15th.

Another five classrooms in the school partially closed in the past two days due to COVID-related exposures, data shows, meaning that some COVID-positive people weren't in class, but vaccinated children who were exposed to the virus were still learning in-person. All of the fully and partially closed classrooms are slated to reopen next week.

Officials also worked on Thursday to dispel widely circulating rumors about an impending systemwide shutdown.

In an interview with WNYC, soon-to-be NYC Schools Chancellor, David Banks, was asked about if and when the city's schools would go remote amid another COVID spike.

He said that while remote learning worked for a small number of students, and he generally wants to keep it as an option that's on the table, he is focused on keeping children learning in classrooms right now.

"The best thing for kids by and large is for them to be in school, and everything we do will be to make sure that we're as close to that as possible," he said.

Banks added that he's paying "close attention" to the rising number of citywide cases, but did not specify what a shutdown threshold would be.