COVID-19 Surveillance Testing
Regular COVID-19 testing provides school communities and public health experts with valuable information. Every school, starting in grade 1, will have 10% of their consented, unvaccinated student population selected twice a month for ongoing random surveillance testing. Families can give consent for testing through their student’s New York City Schools Account (NYCSA)(Open external link).
Daily Health Screenings
Operationalizing Health Screenings
To ensure that staff and students do not report to school if they have or potentially may have COVID-19 or are feeling ill, a health screening must be completed, ideally at home, by all students, staff, and visitors before entering NYCDOE school facilities.
Principals must have procedures in place to ensure that everyone who enters the building each day has passed the health screening at home or prior to entry to the school building. Schools should have a designated staff person to review the incoming reports of screening by staff and parent/guardian and to attest that they are completed.
To operationalize this guidance please note that as per NYSDOH(Open external link), schools are prohibited from keeping records of student, faculty, staff, and visitor health data (e.g., the specific health data of an individual), but are permitted to maintain records that confirm individuals were screened and the result of such screening (e.g., pass/fail, cleared/not cleared). Any paper questionnaires that are collected for purposes of completing the daily screening attestation requirement must be immediately shredded to protect student, faculty, staff, and visitor health data.
Students and school-based staff can or cannot report to school based on their results of the following questions in the NYCDOE’s daily health screener(Open external link):
1. Have you experienced any symptoms of COVID-19, including a fever of 100.0 degrees F or greater, a new cough, new loss of taste or smell or shortness of breath that started in the past 10 days?
No. Go to the next question.
Yes, and I have received a lab-confirmed negative result from a COVID-19 diagnostic test (not a blood test) since the onset of symptoms AND have not had symptoms for at least 24 hours. Go to the next question.
Yes, and I am not in the category above. No further screening is needed. The employee/guest may not enter the building.
2. In the past 10 days, have you gotten a lab-confirmed positive result from a COVID-19 diagnostic test (not a blood test) that was your first positive result OR was AFTER 90 days from your previous diagnosis date? Please note that 10 days is measured from the day you were tested, not from the day when you got the test result.
No. Go to the next question.
Yes. No further screening is needed. The employee/guest may not enter the building.
3. Are you considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by CDC guidelines OR were you recently (within the past three months) diagnosed with COVID-19 and finished isolation in the past 90 days? Please note that to be considered fully vaccinated by CDC guidelines, two weeks must have passed since you received the second dose in a two-dose series or two weeks must have passed since you received a single-dose vaccine.
No, I am not considered fully vaccinated or was not diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past 90 days. Go to the next question.
Yes, I am considered fully vaccinated or was diagnosed with COVID-19 and finished isolation in the past 90 days. The employee/guest should skip question 4 and may enter the building.
4. To the best of your knowledge, in the past 10 days, have you been in close contact (within 6 feet for at least 10 minutes over a 24 hour period) with anyone who is currently diagnosed with COVID-19 or who has been told they have symptoms of COVID-19? Clinical staff who were in appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) are not considered close contacts in these scenarios.
No. The employee/guest may enter the building.
Yes. No further screening is needed. The employee/guest may not enter the building.
Using the Online Health Screening Tool
NYCDOE families/students are encouraged to use the online health screening tool(Open external link) to pre-screen themselves before entering a NYCDOE building. Upon entering the school facility, families/students will be asked to provide the results of their screening either by showing the email on their smartphone or a printout of the results. Families should support students as needed with this online screening questionnaire and should ensure students have proper documentation for morning entry. Since the health screening asks if an individual has a fever, schools should provide DOE thermometers for home use to any family that requests one.
For students who travel via school bus, families must complete the screening, including checking their child’s temperature prior to boarding a school bus to make certain that their child is well enough to ride on the bus and attend school. Bus personnel will not be conducting screenings of children prior to boarding the bus. School site designated staff will be checking for completion of student health screening at entry. Students without a daily screening clearance will need to be supported in completing this process at the school, particularly young children.
For morning student drop off, every effort should be made to ensure that student health screenings are completed prior to families dropping off their children to school, especially for younger students.
NYCDOE employees are strongly encouraged to use the online tool to pre-screen themselves before entering a NYCDOE building. Upon entering the facility, staff will be asked to provide the results of the screening either by showing the email on their phones or a printout of the results. The screening results for school-based staff are valid until midnight of the same day. School-based staff must show clearance every time they reenter a NYCDOE building.
Paper Copy of Health Screening Questionnaire
If students are not able to pre-screen using the online tool, schools must provide families with several copies of the health screening questionnaire so families can complete the questionnaire at home. If staff are not able to pre-screen using the online tool, staff should print and complete the paper health screening questionnaire(Open external link) for completion on a daily basis at home. Translated versions are available at the following links: Arabic(Open external link), Bengali(Open external link), Chinese(Open external link), French(Open external link), Haitian Creole,(Open external link) Korean(Open external link), Russian(Open external link), Spanish(Open external link), and Urdu(Open external link).
In-Person Health Screening at School
If NYCDOE families are unable to pre-screen their child(ren) at home using either the online tool or paper questionnaire(Open external link), families will need to complete their child’s screening in-person at the school building prior to their child’s entry. Schools should determine the best way to implement on-site screening for students using either the online health screening tool or paper copies of the screening questionnaire. Young children may require additional support from a staff member.
If NYCDOE school staff are not able to pre-screen themselves prior to coming to work, they will be required to complete an in-person screening assessment prior to entering the building. The screening results for school-based staff are valid until midnight of the same day and school-based staff must show clearance every time they reenter a NYCDOE building. The paper version of the health screening form can be found here(Open external link).
Supporting Younger Students and District 75 Students with In-Person Health Screenings
For younger students who arrive at school without a completed questionnaire and are unable to respond to the health screening questions, the school should make an effort to contact a family member for support with screening. However, if a parent/guardian is unable to be contacted, the school should check the student’s temperature to ensure that it is below 100.0 degrees F and ask the student about their well- being (e.g., “How are you feeling today?”).
For District 75 students who arrive at school without a completed questionnaire, the school should make an effort to contact a family member for support with screening. If it is not feasible to contact the student's family member prior to the student's entry, the school should check the student’s temperature to ensure that it is below 100.0 degrees F and ask the student about their well-being (e.g., “How are you feeling today?”). In District 75 schools, temperature check alone prior to entry is acceptable if a student is not developmentally able to answer questions regarding their well-being. In the event that contact with the family was not possible prior to the student's entry, once the student is in class the school should conduct outreach to the family to complete the screener as well as remind the family that the screening must be conducted at home before the student leaves for school.