Read on Twitter
So what have we at MS 88 learned from Test & Trace? Two of my colleagues in contact w/person who tested + for #COVID19 took diligent notes from their very DELAYED calls. Self-reporting and internal tracing led by our own admin & staff has been critical to our safety. 1/
"My personal file was created by T&T on Friday, September 11th. I was called Sunday morning, September 13th. We received a letter from the city saying all contact tracing was completed prior to work Thursday [9/10] -before my file had even been created." [exposure was on 9/8] 2/
"I knew that I was a close contact and should quarantine by Wednesday because the staff member was brave enough to disclose the positive case.." Otherwise, "we could have unknowingly gone into work and put our colleagues at risk." 3/
"After learning about the positive case on Wednesday (9/9), my wife and I went to get expedited testing at one of the DOE recommended testing sites at 5 pm. We still have no results. It is Sunday morning (9/13)." 3/
YES, we understand that the number of confirmed positive cases in DOE schools is still far below 1%. Yes, we understand that there will be positive cases. But that is besides our point. It only takes only one poorly handled positive case to trigger community spread. 4/
Our fears are not simply a reaction to the poor handling of the first positive case in our school. Our fears are rooted in how the @NYCSchools handled school closures in March. Our fears are rooted in never having had sufficient ventilation, nurses, hand soap, and love. 5/
We need mandated & rapid testing, transparent, direct lines of communication between the @NYCSchools T&T and school staff that do not rely only on self-reporting, and clear protocols and protections in place for individuals who have been in contact with staff who test positive.6/
We're not putting our experiences out there to be alarmist or divisive. Believe me, our teaching staff want nothing more than to be teaching students in-person. The bottom line is that we all need to be SAFE for our in-person instruction to be valuable. 7/7
