The City School District of Albany has been notified that five people in the district have tested positive for COVID-19.
Three individuals are in fully virtual environments and their positive tests have had no impact on their school buildings. These three cases involve Albany High School, Edmund J. O’Neal Middle School of Excellence, and Stephen and Harriet Myers Middle School.
A second confirmed case involving Albany High also had no school-related contacts and no additional impact on the building. The individual was last in the building Nov. 23 and is quarantined at home.
A positive case at Delaware Community School involved a person associated with a fifth-grade classroom. That individual was last in school Nov. 20 and is now quarantined at home. The Albany County Health Department has identified 49 additional contacts – 16 associated with the school and 33 associated with a First Student bus. All 49 contacts are quarantined at home, in alignment with health department guidance.
All potentially impacted individuals at Albany High, Delaware, Myers and O’Neal have been contacted; the health department has indicated that there are no other steps necessary for the schools at this time.
Health and safety procedures at all district buildings include cleaning and sanitizing nightly. We will continue with these procedures, and also will continue to follow all required COVID-19 precautions (pre-arrival symptom screening and temperature screening for students and staff, wearing masks, hand hygiene, social distancing of 6 feet or more, and other precautions).
We also would like to remind everyone of steps you can take to help be safe:
- Maintain a social distance of at least 6 feet at all times from those you don’t live with.
- Always wear a mask that covers both the mouth and nose when you are out of your home.
- Wash hands with soap and water frequently when out of your home. If you cannot use soap and water, use alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
- Don’t touch the eyes, nose or mouth unless your hands are clean.
- Complete the Student COVID-19 Screener each day before your child leaves for school, available daily via the email address on file for parents and guardians, and from the Students/Families dropdown menu above.
- DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO SCHOOL WHEN THEY ARE SICK OR HAVE SYMPTOMS:
- Signs of COVID-19 are: fever, fatigue/tiredness, muscle/body aches or pains, congestion, cough, runny nose, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, nausea/vomiting or diarrhea, headache, loss of taste or smell, rash, feeling sick or unwell in any way.
- You can get a COVID-19 test by calling the New York State Department of Health COVID-19 Hotline at (888) 364-3065, or Whitney M. Young Jr. Health Center at (518) 407-0172 or (518) 465-4771.
- You also can find resources here:
