2nd Bed-Stuy School Shut Down By City For COVID Outbreak: DOE

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — A Bed-Stuy school with at least 17 coronavirus cases detected in the last week has been closed by the city, according to the Department o fEducation.

Boys and Girls High School on Fulton Street was shuttered Tuesday, several days after officials first began an investigation into multiple coronavirus cases at the school, according to the DOE's interactive map.

At least 17 classrooms had been partially closed at the school before it was fully shut down, including six new cases that were added to the DOE's tracker Tuesday, according to the map.

Three cases were also detected at two schools that share Boys and Girls' Fulton Street campus, though those schools were not shut down, according to the map.

Boys and Girls' 10-day closure is the second in the neighborhood in the last week and was one of three put in place across New York City in the last 24 hours, tying the record for the most schools shuttered in a single day this academic year as the omicron variant causes a surge in cases.

The school closure record was set just last week when the other Bed-Stuy school, Eagle Academy for Young Men II, and two others were closed, according to a report from the Post.

Under DOE guidelines, schools are only closed if an investigation reveals that there is widespread transmission in the school.

In total, the city's coronavirus rules have led to only 13 full school closures so far this year, far less than the hundreds of extended closures in the 2020-21 school year under previous guidelines.

Still, the number of investigations and closures has ramped up in recent weeks as the spike in cases fueled by the omicron variant takes hold of the city. A total of 109 schools have been investigated this year for possible closure, including 45 active investigations as of Tuesday, according to the map.

New York has broken its all-time COVID cases record three days in a row this week, including 12,404 positive cases detected in New York City alone on Sunday.

Both Bed-Stuy ZIP codes where the schools have been closed have among the highest coronavirus rates in New York City, according to city data. The seven-day positivity rate in 11213, where Boys and Girls High School is found, was 11.28 as of Tuesday, data shows.

Boys and Girls High School did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the closure.