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NYC school district to test monthly for coronavirus

Published:Thursday | October 1, 2020 | 11:33 AM
Students bump elbows as they arrive for the first day of in-person classes at Erasmus High School in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood, Thursday, October 1, 2020, in New York. The city's plans to send kids back into classrooms rely on an ambitious plan to do random virus testing of pupils and staff throughout the school year. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

NEW YORK — The New York City school district is rolling out a monthly plan to test students and staff for the coronavirus.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city plans to do more than 100,000 virus tests on students a month, at a cost of between $78 and $90 per test.

The nation’s largest school district will test 10% to 20% of students and staff in every building monthly beginning Thursday, the same day the final wave of the district’s more than one million students began returning to brick-and-mortar classrooms.

De Blasio announced the plan as part of an agreement with the teachers’ union to avert a strike.

At least 79 Department of Education employees have died from the coronavirus.

Los Angeles public schools launched a similar $150 million testing program.

The CDC says coronavirus in school-age children in the US has been rising since early September when many returned to classrooms.

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