Rego Park School To Stay Open After COVID Investigation: DOE

REGO PARK, QUEENS — Students will continue to learn in-person at a Rego Park school which was under investigation amid a recent uptick in COVID cases.

At least two students and two staff members at J.H.S 157 Stephen A Halsey, a junior high school located at 63-55 102nd Street in Rego Park, have tested positive for the coronavirus since Nov. 3rd, data shows.

This case count is relatively small compared to the number of COVID cases at other public schools in Queens, but the uptick still merited an investigation on Tuesday by the Department of Education and Department of Health; a move that a DOE spokesperson told Patch the agency regularly does.

According to the agency's Daily COVID case map, however, there have only been 20 such investigations at the DOE's 1,800-plus schools this academic year, compared to hundreds of classroom closures — another kind of COVID-related intervention.

The investigation at J.H.S 157 did not prompt the school to close because there was no evidence of "in-school [coronavirus] spread," according to the DOE spokesperson, which is the city's litmus test for closing a school.

Three classrooms in the school though are partially closed due to COVID-related exposures this week, 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 classrooms are slated to reopen next week.

The investigation in Rego Park isn't the only one in the neighborhood this week: Another school in Forest Hills was under investigation on Monday after COVID cases doubled in the school.

And, the investigations come after 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.

Another private school in Astoria is closed this week, too, as a "precautionary" measure amid an uptick in cases, Patch reported.

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.

The mayor announced Tuesday that the city will expand its school vaccination program given the higher-than-expected demand for the shots at public schools; the expansion will include charter schools as of Friday and a second round of vaccination at public schools starting Nov. 30, even though city officials originally planned to only have first doses available at the school sites.