Staff at a Bronx elementary school are worried sick since the city told a teacher last week that she had tested positive for COVID-19 in random testing at her school. But she wasn’t in school and didn’t take the test, sources told The Post.
On Jan 5, a middle-school teacher at PS/MS 20 in Norwood received a call from NYC health personnel that she was infected based on testing in her school two days earlier.
But the teacher had been working all-remotely — and had not set foot in the school since Nov. 17, records show.
Principal Carla Ling emailed Superintendent Maribel Hulla on Jan. 7 asking officials to determine who the positive test result belonged to.
“Please assist in identifying the individual that is positive,” Ling wrote.
The concern was sent higher up to Executive Superintendent Meisha Porter, staffers said.
About 45 employees and students at PS/MS 20 were randomly tested on Jan. 5.
But the DOE’s “Situation Room,” which monitors COVID-19 in schools, told administrators, “There’s nothing we can do,” the insider added.
The DOE denied any mix-up.
If two or more cases in different classrooms emerge, the DOE may shut the whole school for 10 days, a total quarantine recently reduced from 14 days.
But the DOE did not close down the Webster Avenue building.
Citywide, the DOE tallied 261 new COVID infections — 128 students and 133 staffers — on Friday. The total includes those working or learning remotely and those tested in schools.
The DOE on Friday shut 49 additional buildings — some housing two or more schools — for at least 24 hours to investigate possible spread, or for a 10-day quarantine, bringing the total currently closed to 165.▰
NY Post
