New York Governor Kathy Hochul, in her first briefing since taking office Tuesday, said her main priority is getting children back in school.
She said there needs to be a requirement for vaccinations for all school personnel with an option to test out weekly, “To accomplish this in New York, we need partnerships with all levels of government, and I am working now on getting this done. New York is launching a Back to School COVID-19 testing program to make testing for students and staff widely available and convenient. I am also immediately directing the Department of Health to institute universal masking for anyone entering our schools.”
Hochul’s office later sent a release saying in addition to these new testing programs, the state will be making more than 4.3 million child-sized clothed face masks, about 10 million adult-sized clothed face masks and almost 55 million non-surgical face masks available to students and teachers in schools across the state.
Later this week, Hochul said she will announce school policies that will be concise and consistent, “giving the school districts what they have been asking for.”
New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) President Andy Pallotta released a statement Tuesday in support of this news, saying, “We support universal mask wearing as part of a layered mitigation strategy that also includes robust COVID testing, contract tracing, proper ventilation and other strategies recommended by public health experts. We also support the governor’s move to require regular COVID testing for school staff who are not yet vaccinated. It’s critical that educators continue to have a voice in the implementation of vaccine requirements and other COVID policies at the local level.”
Leave a Reply