#NYC teacher, school secretary added to DOE COVID death toll

The number of NYC students and staff testing positive for COVID-19 has surged past 10,000, as another public-school teacher and a school secretary have died from the virus, The Post has learned.

The city Department of Education quietly added the two new deaths to its tally of 81 employees lost to COVID since March. But the DOE doesn’t count 14 school safety agents on the NYPD payroll and a school nurse on the city health department payroll — bringing the total who served students to 96.

“As the City fights hard to beat back a second wave and administer as many vaccines to educators as possible, it is heartbreaking that we continue to experience the loss of members of our school communities,” DOE spokeswoman Miranda Barbot said in a statement to The Post.

She would not identify the teacher — the 32nd in the DOE to die from COVID — or the secretary, or the schools where they worked.

Officials said the employees, who died recently, were granted medical accommodations and have not worked in-person since March, when schools first shut down amid the pandemic.

School buildings “continue to be safer than other places in the city,” the DOE said.

The DOE’s online COVID case map tallied another 155 infections Friday —  75 students and 82 staffers. Since Sept. 14, the total is 10,410.

Those who tested positive include students and staff who attend class or work remotely, as well as those who come to schools, at least part-time.

The results are reported to the DOE’s “Situation Room” by city test sites, heath care facilities and private labs — along with the DOE’s in-school testing program. That effort is supposed to test 20 percent of students and staff in all schools each week, but some teachers complain it falls short. 

On Thursday, testers visited 158 schools. Of 6,567 tests conducted, 55 students and staff tested positive. Since October 9, the positivity rate ranges from .33 percent in Manhattan to .67 percent in The Bronx.

As cases rise throughout NYC — 4,645 on Saturday — the city’s COVID-test positivity rate on a seven-day average hit 8.6 percent Saturday, Mayor de Blasio tweeted.

There were 157 COVID-19 deaths in New York state Friday, including 46 in the city.

In response to the death toll, DOE teacher Lydia Howrilka, founding member of the UFT Solidarity, a union caucus, called for closing all schools until the spread of infections eases.

“Vaccines cannot be our only line of defense against COVID. We need a total shutdown because because we cannot control what kids or staff do outside the school yard in terms of social distancing and mask-wearing.”

All middle and high schools are closed, with students learning remotely. But elementary schools and District 75 schools for children with disabilities are open for those who choose in-person classes — some up to five days a week.   

As of Friday, a total 1,194 DOE classrooms and 321 buildings, some with multiple schools, were temporarily closed to prevent a spread of cases. Students and staff exposed to those infected are quarantined.