Posted on 03/13/2020 9:02:07 AM PDT by EinNYC
Two days before closing a New York City public school building where a student tested positive for the coronavirus, Department of Education officials sent out an internal memo advising staff not to report anyone with potential symptoms to the city Department of Health, THE CITY has learned.
The memo from schools headquarters to staff systemwide went out Tuesday morning, days after Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed that three public school teachers who’d been in a coronavirus hot zone had to be tested. At the same time, his health commissioner issued an order mandating that educators, first responders and city health care workers deemed at risk must be tested.
The memo lists a number of precautions to stem the spread of the virus, but explicitly makes clear the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene — the command center for tracking the virus in New York City — should not be contacted.
“At the moment, there is no reason for any school to call DOHMH to report potential or confirmed cases. DOHMH is receiving information from about positive test results strictly from laboratories. We can support our colleagues at DOHMH by keeping their phones clear to speak with laboratories.”
Investigation Underway
Mid-morning Thursday, more than 24 hours after THE CITY asked about the logic of this approach, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene spokesperson Stephanie Buhle wrote in an email, “Our guidance is abundantly clear: if you’re sick, stay home. Physicians and public health professionals guide when testing is appropriate.”
An hour earlier, de Blasio announced that two schools co-located in a South Bronx building — the Laboratory School of Finance and Technology and South Bronx Preparatory — were shut down temporarily “due to a student’s self-confirmed positive case of COVID-19,” the designation for the coronavirus illness.
The statement notes that the Department of Education will “completely disinfect the building” and that the Health Department will “trace close contacts of this individual [student] to recommend quarantine and testing if necessary.” The two schools enroll a total of more than 1,300 students in grades six through 12.
Subsequently, schools officials tweeted, “At this time there is no indication that students in these schools need to be tested” but advised them to stay in their homes until further notice. The school building was shut down for 24 hours following a protocol issued last week by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
City Hall has not yet released any details on the circumstances that led to the student being tested for COVID-19, but during a news conference Thursday afternoon, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza confirmed the protocol advising staff not to notify DOHMH of suspected cases, explaining that the DOE did not want to “inundate” the Health Department.
“There is no directive. There’s guidance. With increasing numbers of people coming out, what we don’t want to do is inundate the Department of Health with these cases,” the chancellor said. “We’re going to put structure in place, rather than have random people calling” the department of health. But de Blasio emphasized the need to get information to health officials as soon as possible, and vowed the city will “work on that.”
“There is still a reality that we have to figure out how to get that information to the right people the second it comes in,” he said. “It’s fair to say and we’ll work on that wherever a report comes up. We’ll need to get to it right away.”
Schools officials said there was no indication any other student in these schools had tested positive, and during the press conference Carranza said none of the students there have pre-existing conditions that would make them especially vulnerable to infection.
De Blasio said the school was to be thoroughly cleaned Thursday and that the Health Department will track down close contacts of the student and get them tested if necessary. The two schools enroll a total of more than 1,300 students in grades six through 12.
The mayor emphasized that he has no plans to close the school system but will respond on a case-by-case basis if students or staff test positive.
Full Closure ‘Not Gonna Happen’
The building where the two schools are housed is located in the South Bronx on East 145th Street, between the Patterson and Mott Haven public housing developments.
Also closed today is the Sunshine day care center nearby, said Ariel Veloz, who had to rush to the center to pick up his 2-year-old son Jacob.
“I was shocked, because I thought it was a prank, I thought it was a joke,” said Veloz, who saw a commotion when he got there: “Right now they are cleaning the school, they are cleaning the tables and the hallways.”
Sunshine was not immediately available for comment.
Veloz works as a bus driver for the public schools and has been monitoring the situation through his supervisor. “I asked my dispatch what’s going to happen if all the schools close down,” he recounted. “And she said, ‘Well that’s not gonna happen.’ ”
Many Ill Untested
As the virus spread globally over the last two weeks, three public school teachers who’d visited regions in Italy where the illness was concentrated came down with symptoms potentially signaling coronavirus.
One was able to get a test right away, which came up negative. Two others were tested after THE CITY reported that one of the teachers had been turned away from testing. Both turned up negative after they received testing Friday.
The number of individuals who’ve tested positive in New York City is now 62, up from 20 just four days ago. The number actually infected is likely far higher given strict limits on who is eligible to be tested, resulting from a shortage of test kits.
Accounts from individuals with potential infections being turned away after requesting testing have proliferated.
Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot last week issued an order mandating that all educators, first responders and city health care workers must be tested if they’re found by the city health department to be at risk of infecting others.
But the mayor’s Office of Labor Relations also instructed agencies not to track down and report employees with possible symptoms, stating that an investigation would only be triggered after an employee registered positive for COVID-19.
On Thursday a spokesperson for the teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers, did not respond to questions about the union’s position on the DOE’s handling of the virus outbreak.
They do not want illegals outed
“They do not want illegals outed”
Yeah, makes sense.
It has the added benefit of increasing cases which they can use to seize more government control.
Never let a crisis (real or perceived) go to waste.
I gotta believe, Jimmy that there is a REALLY hot corner of Hell reserved for folks that put politics over human lives or human suffering...
That’s pretty much what they are telling the whole state of CT: if you have symptoms, they say—don’t get a test! Just stay home.
And you can guess what they say to those concerned who don’t have symptoms...
In the article it says it was a student eith a self confirmed case of the virus
So the kid said he had it and they shut the school down.
Weirf
I still wonder about that Life Care in Kirkland WA. Firefighter knew that staff should be wearing masks and that it was covid19 but the administrator(s) never told the staff. Made a bad situation worse. Gross negligence or pure evil. is the admin screeching feminist, leftist?
There are a LOT of illegals taking up classroom space in NYC public schools. So many that often, teachers steal chairs from one another’s classrooms because otherwise, kids are sitting on top of radiators or boxes. It is ridiculous how many resources are stolen by these illegal criminal invaders—bilingual textbooks, bilingual teachers, a couple of high schools dedicated only for Hispanic students in the country less than 4 years, etc. So certainly the idiot irresponsible mayor and his HISPANIC henchman Carranza (schools chancellor) want to hide how many illegals they are harboring. Bad enough they deliberately impede ICE’s efforts to rid us of these unskilled, illiterate, disease-carrying trash, but now they are playing with fire and grossly endangering the public’s health.
Democrat run?
Corrupt through and through.
And even deeper.
It’s corrupt all the way down.
Publik skoolz? Take all the above corruption and square it.
Gov. of West Virginia just shut down all public schools for indefinite period of time.
WV....0 confirmed cases....0 deaths
Liberal fascists will make teachers die. And the School system is willing to let that happen.
Amazing. We are living is a country where fascism rules our schools.
And they want to keep it that way. The fewer areas that are impacted, means more resources that can be deployed to areas harder hit.
smh
They are trying to spread it more rapidly to create political problems for Trump.
Don’t ask don’t tell
Just finished a parent teacher conference and the elephant in the room was closing for the virus. Only after asking where we told of a meeting among the school district supervisors on the east side of Washington state taking place today. They are expecting to close the schools, however, the big sticking point is how to feed the children who depend on meals.
Plus, schools in lib zones don’t like to mark absences.
Their funding is per student, per diem. High absentees = less moolah.
When we lived in CA, I called my kid’s school when he was sick & was told not to. Sure enough, his report card showed 100% attendance, despite 3 day absence.
No doubt the emergency package will only help school employees whose pay is docked if schools are shut down, but the libs will want it both ways— paid as if they’re in class, paid again because they’re not.
Does this remind you of any country? Hmmm? Seems communist China took same approach. Birds of a feather....
In Chicago 2002 West Nile virus it the city. The birds all over fell from the sky. My little suburb had a animal patrol guy who was paid to handle stray dogs and skunks. He said he picked up 200 dead crows a day off streets. The virus went from birds to mosquitos to people. At first the state wanted to know about every case. The hospitals filled up. But after a while they told the people to stop calling. Thousands got the virus. And some small handful had very bad symptoms that lead to meningitis and death. The reality is that they just stop counting. Once its in the system, they just want the people to go home and wait it out.
The unspoken truth. Is that any healthcare system Canada’s or ours does not handle this. The virus swept over us back then. And in a few years the birds came back. And the number of cases in people became quite rare, maybe 10 a year in the whole state.
Merkel has it right. 70% will get it. Its just a matter of how fast and what our economy will look like when we finish trying to avoid it.
That’s what I was going to say. Protecting the illegals. The rats play all sides of it..
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