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NYC will increase in-school COVID-19 testing starting Jan. 3

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio bumps elbows with an elementary school student as the student enters P.S. 188 The Island School in New York City on September 29. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
1 of 5 | New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio bumps elbows with an elementary school student as the student enters P.S. 188 The Island School in New York City on September 29. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
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Dec. 28 (UPI) -- New York City will expand its in-school testing program on Jan. 3, doubling PCR testing in all schools each week, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.

The "Stay Safe, Stay Open" plan aims to identify cases and isolate them as the Omicron variant spreads quickly through the United States and disrupts daily life.

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Vaccinated and unvaccinated students, teachers, and staff will be tested. If a positive case arises in the classroom, all students in that room will be given at-home testing kits.

If students are asymptomatic and test negative, they will be able to return the day after their negative test.

A second at-home test will be given seven days after initial exposure.

Previous plans sent entire classrooms home to learn online once a student tested positive.

Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokski said that schools remain the safest environments within communities. Around 96% of Department of Education employees are vaccinated.

"Even if the rates were to become somewhat higher due to Omicron becoming dominant, we estimate that, in schools, about 98% of close contacts do not end up developing COVID-19," Chokshi told ABC 7 News.

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There were 332 newly admitted COVID-19 patients at hospitals and a 7-day average number of cases totaled 20,200 in the city.

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