School quarantines reduced to 10 days

City public school staff and students who may have been exposed to COVID-19 will now have to quarantine for only 10 days instead of 14, following an Education Department rule change, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza told principals Tuesday.

“Based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the New York State Department of Health and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the quarantine period for individuals exposed to confirmed COVID-19 cases has changed from 14 days to 10 days,” Carranza wrote in his principals digest message Tuesday.

The shortened quarantine time will also apply to buildings and classrooms that have been temporarily shuttered because of one or more confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The change took effect this past Saturday, and any quarantines that began before then will still last for 14 days, officials said.

Since elementary schools and District 75 schools for students with complex disabilities reopened for in-person learning in December amid rising levels of community spread, hundreds of school buildings have temporarily shuttered after two or more cases were reported within seven days and contact tracers couldn’t establish a link.

On Dec. 23, the day before winter break, nearly 230 school buildings were in the midst of a two-week closure.

A test will not be required at the end of the 10 days as long as no symptoms have emerged, according to the Education Department rules.

Officials say that parents will be notified of the change in the coming days.