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

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Students will continue to learn in-person at a Bayside school where COVID cases have nearly tripled in the past week, according to the Department of Education.

At least 14 students and one staff member at P.S. 169, an elementary school located at 18-25 212th Street in Bay Terrace, have tested positive for the coronavirus since Nov. 3rd, data shows. The uptick brings the Bay Terrace school's total case count for this school year to 21, meaning cases have nearly tripled in the last seven days.

An investigation into the school on Wednesday, however, did not find proof of "widespread in-school transmission," which is the litmus test for closing a school, a Department of Education spokesperson told Patch.

At the time of the investigation, 17 classrooms at the elementary school were partially closed 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.

Another classroom partially closed on the day of the investigation, bringing the total of partial closures to 18 as of Thursday, according to the Department of Education's COVID case map shows.

Two of the classrooms where some COVID-positive people are currently missing from class, however, will reopen this week. An additional 11 classrooms should be fully reopened by next Monday, bringing the number of partial closures down to five, records show.

The investigation in Bayside comes during a week when two public schools 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 this week, when the city began administering Pfizer vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-olds following federal authorization.