CONGERS, NY – Rockland County Legislator and East Ramapo Central School District teacher Laurie Santulli announces she has tested positive for COVID-19.

Legislator Santulli has mild symptoms and is currently at home in quarantine. Join us in wishing her a speedy recovery!

You can read her full post below:

I recently tested positive for COVID-19. I went on a fluke to make sure I was not going to pass anything on to family on Thanksgiving. I am asymptomatic other than a stuffy nose I had the day of the test.

My positive result essentially brought the school I teach at to close. Due to the length I was in my department office with other teachers with masks on, 6ft apart, 5 teachers must isolate and quarantine for 14 days. The students who were in my classes, with masks on and behind plexiglass must isolate and quarantine for 14 days.

I needed to inform the contact tracer every person I came in contact with indoors,for longer than 15 minutes, even with masks for 3-4 days prior to my positive test.

My one test forced people to isolate and quarantine. I know this is out of safety and precaution. I completely understand they can be asymptomatic and could spread the virus further. My issue is with the constant demands and complaints about how schools are handling this.

I have said over and over I am in favor of schools opening. But with that comes the constant need to adjust what staying open actually looks like. You cannot demand schools need to be open then get upset when people test positive essentially tying the hands of school districts and forcing various closures. Your issue should not be with the schools then, it should be directed at the state for the lengths they are going to trying to stop the spread of Covid. The state and CDC has created the required quarantine mandates.

As a teacher in a high school, the risk of coming in contact with someone with the virus is much greater. Our students have multiple classes, multiple teachers, with different students in each class. It is not teachers’ fault this virus is spreading. It is not school districts fault the virus is spreading.

I have no doubts I got it from work. My husband tested the same day and is negative. There are so many who look to blame people who contract this and unknowingly potentially spread the virus. You can’t have it both ways. You want your kids in school, you claim they need it. Well, I agree. But with schools open the virus will spread.

For people to continually bash the schools for not handling this properly, understand the constraints in which they are mandated to operate. Their goal is to stay open but there aren’t enough substitute teachers to fill the absences. Adjustments and closures will continue to happen.

Photo credit Laurie Santulli Facebook