Coronavirus Cases Close 3 More Bed-Stuy Schools: DOE

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — Another three schools in Bed-Stuy have been temporarily shut down due to coronavirus cases detected in the building, according to the Department of Education.

P.S. 21, P.S. 5 and I.S. 35 were all marked closed on Monday given at least two cases of coronavirus in each building, according to the Department of Education's map of active cases.

I.S. 35 was the only of the three building to face an extended closure — it will be closed through Feb. 17. Both P.S. 21 and P.S. 5 were marked closed through Tuesday, Feb. 9.

The three new closures come as four other schools in the neighborhood are finishing up an extended closure that started last week.

This marks the third week in a row that at least three schools have closed in Bed-Stuy, according to Patch's monitoring of the daily case map.

According to the Department of Education's guidelines, school buildings must automatically close pending an investigation when at least two COVID-19 cases linked to each other are confirmed in separate classrooms. The closure is extended when the infections occurred outside of school or a link between them cannot be determined.

The seven Bed-Stuy schools are among nearly 200 across the five boroughs that were under coronavirus closures on Wednesday. There were 144 facing an extended closure and 46 under a 24-hour shut down as of Thursday, according to the map. A total of 434 classrooms were also closed due to the virus.

Elementary K-5 students, pre-K, 3K and special needs students are the only students currently going to classrooms. De Blasio has said middle school students will return to the classroom Feb. 25.