More than 60 students test positive on North Shore in past week

Robert Pelaez
More than 470 students throughout North Shore public school districts had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Wednesday. (Chart by Robert Pelaez)

The number of students who have tested positive for the coronavirus in public schools across the North Shore has risen to more than 470 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to state Health Department figures.

As of Tuesday, 472 students on the North Shore had tested positive since the beginning of the school year. The increase of 66 confirmed student cases is the third most over a one-week period since the school year began, according to state data.

Public school districts that were analyzed included the Port Washington school district, Roslyn school district, Sewanhaka Central High School District, Mineola school district, East Williston school district, Floral Park-Bellerose school district, Manhasset school district, New Hyde Park-Garden City Park school district, Herricks school district, North Shore school district and Great Neck school district.

The three school districts with the most cases among students are Great Neck, with 77, Port Washington, with 73, and Sewanhaka with 69.

An additional 47 cases were found in North Shore Hebrew Academy (25), North Shore Hebrew Academy High School (14), Silverstein Hebrew Academy (6), and North Shore Hebrew Academy Middle School (2), all located on the Great Neck peninsula.

Chaminade High School in Mineola also had 31 positive cases as of Wednesday, an increase of two over the past week.  Saint Mary’s Elementary School in Manhasset had six cases and Saint Mary’s High School had four as of Wednesday.

Efforts to reach representatives from the private schools were unavailing.

In Port Washington, Guggenheim Elementary School spent last week learning remotely due to understaffing, according to Superintendent Michael Hynes.  The school district’s increase of 13 cases was the second most out of any district over the past week. The Mineola school district had the most with 14 new cases.

In a letter sent to parents and community members, and posted to Facebook by the Guggenheim Home School Association, Hynes said that what was “happening across Long Island regarding the increase in people testing positive for COVID-19 is now directly impacting our district.”

“An increasing number of our staff members have either tested positive, or have been identified as close contacts in out-of-school scenarios, and have been ordered to quarantine,” Hynes wrote. “With an additional three staff members who have tested COVID-19 positive, we have close to 20 percent of Guggenheim’s staff needing to quarantine. Unfortunately, even with the several additional staff members hired this summer, this is resulting in the district being understaffed at Guggenheim Elementary School.”

In Sewanhaka, 55 of the 69 total positive student cases were on-site, while the rest were off-site, according to state figures.

The North Shore school district, with 58, the Mineola school district, with 56, the Manhasset school district with 43, and the Roslyn school district, with 36, were the only other districts with 30 or more confirmed student cases. The East Williston and Herricks districts combined for 43 student cases, with East Williston having 22 and Herricks having 21, five of which were new cases.

Despite being surrounded by areas with a high number of confirmed cases outside the classroom, schools in the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park and Floral Park-Bellerose school districts had a combined 17 cases. New Hyde Park-Garden City Park had 11 cases, while Floral Park-Bellerose had six.

For more information on how school districts and their schools are faring with the coronavirus, visit https://schoolcovidreportcard.health.ny.gov/#/home.

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