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NYC Teachers Looking At Holiday Travel To Virus Hotspots Must Self-Isolate Upon Return, State Says
By
David Cruz
Published Oct 24, 2020
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By
David Cruz
Published Oct 24, 2020
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With just over a month before the holiday season begins, the city Department of Education is reminding its teachers and other staff members to consider the consequences of traveling to a COVID-19 hotspot outside New York: a mandatory, 14-day quarantine.
But despite the possibility that teachers and school staff could be packing up for a few days to see relatives outside New York State, there is no official recommendation the DOE has sent to educators on traveling. Should teachers head outside the Empire State in droves during the holiday season, it could lead to staffing problems at schools in late November and early these teachers need to quarantine upon return.
Those hotspot states are being tracked by Governor Andrew Cuomo, who's mandated that anyone traveling to any state on that list must quarantine for at least two weeks when returning to New York. There are currently 38 states on the list, including Guam and Puerto Rico. Despite increased COVID-19 rates, New Jersey and Connecticut remain off Cuomo's quarantine list.
Teachers are now caught in a bind over whether to comply with the 14-day quarantine or sit out holidays such as Thanksgiving, considered one of the biggest travel holidays of the year.
At a 6th-12th grade school in the Bronx, teachers have already been weighing the consequences of traveling and the impact it can pose at their school once in-person learning resumes after the holiday. One teacher, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak to the press, wrote to Gothamist, saying that their principal was crying over the fact she can't "dedicate the 14 days needed to [work from home]/quarantine after visiting a travel advisory state to see her family."
"[S]he probably won't be able to see her family," the teacher told Gothamist. "There are so many teachers in similar predicaments, and while some may decide they cannot visit their families safely, there are many others who will be leaving the state - many to travel advisory states, since there are just many travel advisory states - and will then need to [work from home]/quarantine for 14 days after returning."
The teacher added that the school is already short-staffed, given the number of teachers already working from home due to a medical condition, raising the question over whether there'll be enough staff inside schools for in-person learning. The city has hired an additional 4,500 teachers in compliance with its deal with school labor unions to increase staffing during the pandemic. The Mayor's Office has not offered an update over the number of new teachers hired.
Nathaniel Styer, a spokesperson for the DOE, deferred to Cuomo's comments when asked by Gothamist whether there is a policy being handed down regarding travel to COVID-19 hotspots.
“New York City put in a tremendous amount of work to stop the spread and keep our infection rates low," said Styer in an emailed statement. "Per the Governor’s Executive Order, any New Yorker who travels to a state on the restricted list should expect to quarantine for 14 days.”
As for enforcement, the DOE pointed to its safety protocol that already asks teachers whether they've traveled outside the state before entering a building.
The DOE's lack of plans is in stark contrast to that of private schools, such as Horace Mann in the Bronx, which is at least mulling a plan to completely shift to remote learning from November to January in anticipation of students traveling outside the state.
Tagged
schools reopening
COVID-19
holiday travel
David Cruz
David is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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