Website to track Covid-19 cases in K-12 schools

"I think this will give parents confidence, teachers confidence, they'll know on a day to day basis exactly what is happening," Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said. "They won’t be reliant on communication from the school district."

The dashboard can be reached at schoolcovidreportcard.health.ny.gov and it will go live as soon as reports come into the state.

It will include: 

• Positive infections by date of students and staff by school and school district

• Whether students and staff are working remotely, in-person or hybrid

• Number of students and staff on-site

• Percentage of on-site students and staff who test positive

• Number of tests administered by the school, test type, lab used and lag time

• Date of last submission/update

"It's a big undertaking," Cuomo said.

Most school leaders expect at some time a student or staff member to come down with Covid-19. But superintendents were mixed on whether they would announce to the school community that someone had tested positive.

Hamburg Superintendent Michael Cornell said his district had always planned to inform parents as it learned of positive cases in staff or students. But he said, "We are not a testing site."

He said he received an email at 12:26 p.m. Tuesday from the state Health Department about a 1:30 p.m. webinar explaining the new dashboard, what the state also is calling the Covid Report Card.

"All of this is happening fast for everybody," said Cornell, who also is president of Erie-Niagara Superintendents Association.

Cuomo said school districts, local health departments and labs are to report daily on students and staff members who test positive. 

But schools will not be conducting tests, according to the Erie County Health Department.

"Schools are not in charge of testing," Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale R. Burstein said last month. "They are in charge of teaching."

For school-age children who reside in Erie County and who have a positive COVID diagnostic test, our contact tracers will obtain their school information through a case investigation and interview with their parent," Erie County Health Department spokeswoman Kara Kane said in an email.

She said the Health Department will work with schools to inform them about students and staff who are under isolation orders based on a positive Covid test, or quarantine based on their exposure to an individual with a positive Covid test.

Parents can go to the website, put in their addresses and it will tell them which district they live in and all the pertinent coronavirus information for that district, the governor said.

"Parents and teachers are anxious," Cuomo said. "They have been throughout all this."