Richmond Hill and Far Rockaway schools closed after staffers report second cases of COVID-19

The city has temporarily closed two Queens public high schools on Friday after both reported a second case of the novel coronavirus among staffers in a seven-day period, the Department of Education announced.

Beach Channel Educational Campus in Far Rockaway and P.S. 90 Horace Mann in Richmond Hill reported their second COVID-19 cases on Thursday, according to DOE officials, launching an investigation and a 24-hour-long shutdown of the buildings.

It is unclear when the infected staffers at Beach Channel Educational Campus and P.S. 90 took their COVID-19 tests.

Under DOE guidelines, schools will be shut down if more than one person not connected by classroom or student cohort reports testing positive for the virus within a seven-day period. So far, four public schools have had to temporarily close since buildings reopened for teachers on Sept. 8.

The first school to close its doors was P.S. 811X — the Academy for Career and Living Skill — a District 75 school in the Bronx three days after buildings reopened. District 75 schools serve the city’s most disabled students.

There are now at least 57 public schools reporting at least one positive COVID-19 case, according to the DOE. Here is of school buildings with confirmed cases confirmed by the DOE. Number one through 21 had a confirmed case with the infected staffer reporting to the school building. Numbers 22 through 35 are buildings with a confirmed case but the COVID-19 staffer had not been inside the school building.