Mayor says there will be increased focus on testing school staff and students for COVID-19

New York City schools are set to open in one week, and today the mayor announced some important updates for students and teachers as they prepare for the new school year.

News 12 Staff

Sep 14, 2020, 2:02 PM

Updated 1,458 days ago

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New York City schools are set to open in one week, and today the mayor announced some important updates for students and teachers as they prepare for the new school year.

Schools open in one week, and there's a lot of concern about health and safety after some teachers were reported testing positive for the coronavirus after they reported back to school last week.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday that there will be an increased focus on testing school staff and students. This week there will be 20 NYC Health + Hospitals locations across all five boroughs where public school students and teachers can go and get tested for free with quick results. The mayor also announced a new COVID-response situation room where principals can call to report suspected COVID-19 cases, the Test & Trace Corps will then verify test results and take action to isolate people if necessary and coordinate quarantine and closures.

"Now this will be a constant effort. It will be the Department of Education team, it will be the test and trace team, it will be the Department of Health, everyone together in one room to make decisions and here you see right now this situation room,” says Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Now for the final week of prep before schools open, the mayor says he's sending an additional 2,000 educators into schools immediately for additional support to be ready for next week.