By Jackie Pollack
Governor Cuomo recently mandated a new cluster action initiative, which targets and puts restrictions on regions with rising COVID cases. This announcement could potentially impact whether the district can continue in-school education for students.
The Governor has categorized the clusters as the following:
Yellow Zone — Precautionary Zone
Houses of Worship: 50 percent capacity
Mass Gatherings: 25 people maximum, indoor and outdoor
Businesses: Open
Dining: Indoor and outdoor dining, 4 person maximum per table
Schools: Open with mandatory weekly testing of students and teachers/staff for in-person settings. The New York State Department of Health will establish a percentage of teachers and students/staff who need to be tested by Friday.
Orange Zone — Warning Zone
Houses of Worship: 33 percent capacity, 25 people maximum
Mass Gatherings: 10 people maximum, indoor and outdoor
Businesses: Closing high-risk non-essential businesses, such as gyms and personal care
Dining: Outdoor dining only, 4 person maximum per table
Schools: Closed, remote only
Red Zone — Cluster Itself
Houses of Worship: 25 percent capacity, 10 people maximum
Mass Gatherings: Prohibited
Businesses: Only essential businesses open
Dining: Takeout only
Schools: Closed, remote only
In an email blast, Dr. Harrison announced that it is possible for the district to soon be declared a “yellow zone.” Tarrytown has already been categorized as a “yellow zone.” If infection rates continue to rise and Irvington does become a “yellow zone,” the school could remain physically open under the following conditions:
“Schools in yellow zones must test 20% of in-person students, faculty and staff over the two-week period immediately following the announcement of a yellow zone designation,” the email reads.
“If the results of the testing reveal that the positivity rate among the 20% of those tested is lower than the yellow zone’s current 7-day positivity rate, testing at that school will no longer be required to continue. However, if the results of the testing over the first two weeks reveal that the positivity rate among in-person student, staff and faculty is higher than the Yellow Zone’s current 7-day positivity rate, the school will be required to continue to test 20% of the in-person population on a bi-weekly basis.”
Our school needs funding from the state in order to administer testing. Otherwise, the district may be forced to close.
Dr. Harrison wrote that the district has to first test about 420 people under the testing requirements. However, the school does not have the license which is needed to conduct the tests nor can the district afford it financially.
In order that our schools do not close in-person learning, Dr. Harrison and the PTSA urge the community to reach out to Legislators and Governor Cuomo at Westchester Putnam School Boards Association’s Voter Voice. The Boards Association is asking that the state provide…
- all public school districts free PCR self-administered or other New York State Department of Health approved self-administered tests that provide rapid on-site results.
- the personnel necessary to administer testing.
- help for districts unable to coordinate self-administered testing. The New York State Department of Health must contract with laboratories to administer tests on-site.
In another email sent by Dr. Harrison, he explicitly states the efforts that are being taken by the district to prevent the spread of COVID:
“In all instances where there is a positive COVID case, we report all necessary details to the WCDOH. This includes known contacts whether they be staff members, students, etc. These individuals are also personally notified by the District. The NYSDOH takes the information we provide to perform contact tracing. In all events, as a District, we direct the known contacts to quarantine 14 days from the last contact with the positive case.
When the DOH performs contact tracing, if there are impacts in the school community that are beyond that which we suspected, we anticipate that we will be notified. Further, they will direct the additional people who they believe to be direct contacts to appropriately quarantine.”
The high school and middle school campus has avoided even a temporary closures so far even as more positive cases are reported in the district. According to email notices, there have been three cases this week, but in each instance the individual was reported to have “limited” or “no contact” for several days. Therefore, the Westchester County Department of Health advised the district that it could remain open for in-person learning.
In another email explaining the process, Dr. Harrison assured the community that, “In all instances where there is a positive COVID case, we report all necessary details to the WCDOH. This includes known contacts whether they be staff members, students, etc. These individuals are also personally notified by the District. The NYSDOH takes the information we provide to perform contact tracing. In all events, as a District, we direct the known contacts to quarantine 14 days from the last contact with the positive case.”
