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The DOE is taking \"additional steps\" to ensure that students who have not been given permission to be tested do not receive one, such as making sure staff is using the most up-to-date consent lists, according to a statement.

\"This should have never happened and we are adjusting our protocols to ensure it does not happen again,\" DOE Deputy Press Secretary Nathaniel Styer said.

Experts are still unsure as to whether schools could serve as super-spreader sites for the virus.

The testing \"is a critical part of keeping in-person learning safe and healthy for students and staff,\" Styer said.

\"PHOTO:
CSM/REX/Shutterstock, FILE
PHOTO: Parents and students gather to protest plans for the New York City public school system, including the required Covid testing by school doctors, in Staten Island, New York, Oct. 1, 2020.
>

On Saturday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that targeting the spread of coronavirus would now be conducted \"block-by-block\" rather than at the statewide or regional level.

Currently, there are no \"red zone\" areas in Staten Island, an interactive map by the city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications shows.

Neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn contain micro-clusters of the virus, as well as Orange and Rockland Counties outside the city.

Despite the hot spots, New York has one of the lowest infection rates in the nation at a 1.1% average as of Saturday, Cuomo said.

The city's DOE did not provide additional comment to ABC News.

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