NYC schools set to return from holiday break with new COVID protocols

Students exposed to COVID-19 can stay in school as long as they test negative and do not have symptoms.
John Minchillo/AP

New York City public schools will return from the winter break on Monday under a new at-home testing regime that will let students exposed to COVID-19 stay in school as long as they test negative and do not have symptoms.

Under the policy established by former Mayor Bill de Blasio and expected to continue under new Mayor Eric Adams, students or staff exposed to someone who tested positive will be given two at-home tests, according to the Department of Education website.

Students exposed to the virus will be allowed to attend school as long as they test negative on the day they are given the test and again five days after the exposure, according to the policy. Those who test positive must be isolated for 10 days.

Students in 3-K and Pre-K who were exposed to COVID-19 must still quarantine for 10 days.

Schools previously tested just 10 percent of unvaccinated students. Some 98 percent of close contacts of COVID-positive public school students do not end up contracting the virus themselves, according to city Department of Health from October to December.

Students, parents and staff will not be required to show proof of negative test results.

Child hospitalizations for COVID-19 have surged in New York in recent weeks, with one-third of young patients suffering underlying conditions.

Students who test positive must isolate for 10 days.

Ted Shaffrey/AP

Students in 3-K and Pre-K who were exposed to COVID-19 must still quarantine for 10 days.

John Minchillo/AP

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Mayor Adams urged parents to “fear not” sending their children back amid the ongoing Omicron variant surge.

“The numbers of transmissions are low, your children is in a safe space to learn and continue to thrive. We’ve lost almost two years of education… we can’t do it again,” Hizzoner told host George Stephanopoulos.

“We want to create a safe environment with testing,” the new mayor said. “We’re going to identify the children that are exposed. We’re going to remove them from that environment, and the numbers show the mere fact that a child is exposed in a classroom does not mean that entire classroom is exposed.”