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New state guidelines issued for COVID-19 testing at schools in color zones

They cover both public and non-public schools in red and orange cluster zones. Schools in those zones no longer have to stay closed for in-person learning.

HAMBURG, N.Y. — This week Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced new state guidelines for COVID-19 testing at schools in certain color zones.

Schools got that guidance from the state late Friday. It covers both public and non-public schools in red and orange cluster zones.

Schools in those zones no longer have to stay closed for in-person learning, and they can stay open by following these updated guidelines.

Schools in orange zones now have to test 20 percent of students and staff doing in-person learning over a one-month period, and schools in red zones have to test 30-percent.

Both zones have to stay under certain percent-positive thresholds to stay open.

Credit: WGRZ.com

Michael Cornell, the Hamburg Central School District superintendent and president of the Erie-Niagara School Superintendent Association, advocated for these changes.

"We follow all the rules in school, and I think that's important for people to know," he said. "The other thing that's important for people to know is that in almost every instance where a school district reports a case, they're reporting a case where the person contracted COVID-19 from a setting outside of the school setting, but they happen to learn or work in the school district who had to report the case."

"So by and large, according to the contact-tracers and according to local health departments, schools are not places where COVID-19 spreads readily precisely because we follow all of the mitigation strategies, so schools are fundamentally safe places."

Cornell says if you're in an orange zone, your school district will be in touch about testing, which could happen at your school or you might have to go to one of the testing clinics.

    

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