Buffalo, NY, (WBEN) - Guidelines are changing in parts of Western New York to make it easier for schools to reopen for in-person learning.
Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday said the state will be easing testing requirements on school districts in the orange zone so that more of them can stay open for students. In an orange zone, schools were required to test every single student and staff member who wanted to return to in-person learning, and then test 20% of students and staff every week.
The cost associated with testing forced most school districts in Erie County to close down and switch to remote learning.
Now, the state is easing the testing requirement so that schools in the orange zone must test 20% of in person students and staff every month. Red zone schools must test 30% every month. Schools can also conduct pool testing.
"All the testing says schools are safer than the surrounding community," Cuomo said.
"New York State realized there was no way they were going to meet the 100% testing requirement in the orange or red zones," said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. "The proposal that's now state wide is what the superintendents said should be attainable here."
Poloncarz said that the County will be helping some of the smaller school districts meet the testing requirements.
While Cuomo noted that schools have not been a significant source of virus transmission, he lauded the decision of Mayor Bill de Blasio to begin reopening New York City school buildings next week.
"The school protocols and the school testings? Great, highly effective. Astonishing how low the levels of infections are in schools, especially K to 8," Cuomo said.
De Blasio said on CNN earlier Monday that while some elementary school students will be back in school buildings next week, middle school and high school students won't return to in-person learning until after the holiday break.
"Obviously, from now until the Christmas break, the focus will be on the younger kids," de Blasio said. "When we come back, my hope is we can then move quickly to middle school and high school."
The Democratic mayor said the staggered approach is necessary because of the amount of COVID-19 testing that is required to open schools safely amid rising infection rates across the city.
De Blasio announced Sunday that school buildings will start reopening Dec. 7 for students whose parents have chosen a mix of in-person and remote learning. Schools have been shuttered since Nov. 19, but de Blasio said weekly COVID-19 testing in all schools will make it possible to reopen safely.
De Blasio had said previously that schools would close when the city hit a threshold of 3% of coronavirus tests coming back positive. That threshold, which the city has exceeded in recent weeks, no longer makes sense, the mayor said.
"What has happened is we've proven the schools can be extraordinarily safe," de Blasio said. "The schools are some of the safest places to be right now in New York City, which is a credit to our educators and our staff and our parents."
