Hochul: New York rolling back COVID rules for schools, expanding monkeypox vaccinations and monitoring polio cases
ALBANY — New York is easing COVID-19 rules for students ahead of the start of the school year, updating guidelines to align with federal protocols on masking, testing and quarantining.
Students no longer have to isolate if exposed to someone with the virus, and a single COVID case will not result in entire classrooms being sent home, Gov. Hochul announced on Monday.
“There was concern in classrooms, but we now have two years of experience,” the governor said during a briefing in Manhattan. “We know kids are safe in the classroom, and when traditional learning stops it can be devastating for the well-being of those children.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul holds a health update on Aug. 22, 2022, in New York. (Darren McGee/)
There will be no mask mandate, perhaps the most controversial of all the pandemic-era policies, although Hochul kept the idea alive a few weeks ago when discussing potential tools to combat a surge of infections in the fall.
The new rules closely follow revamped guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released last week that loosened recommendations regarding social distancing and the length of quarantines.
City education officials’ announced last week that weekly in-school testing for the virus and daily health screens won’t be required this fall and students will no longer have to fill out daily health screening paperwork.
NYC Education Dept. scraps in-school student COVID-19 testing, daily health screeners
Mayor Adams said he fully supports Hochul’s decision to roll back COVID regulations as cases remain relatively low.
“I think it’s the right step, the right direction,” he said during an unrelated news conference in Brooklyn. “We’re going to look at them and make a determination with our Department of Health and Mental Hygiene what we’re going to do school by school to make sure our children are protected as best as possible.”
Mayor Eric Adams visits P.S. 60 Alice Austen School on Staten Island in this file photo. (Mayors office/)
State and city officials are keeping an eye on the numbers after coronavirus cases surged the past two years as kids returned to school and people spent more time indoors during the fall.
Current data show New York recorded only 3,251 new COVID cases statewide Sunday. The seven-day average positivity rate is 6.18%, and the state is reporting 22.95 cases per 100,000 people.
On Sunday 26 people died from the virus, according to health officials.
Last year, on her first day on the job, Hochul instituted a mask mandate for schools as the delta variant quickly spread across New York. At the time, the state had a positivity rate of around 3% and roughly the same number of cases per 100,000 residents as now.
The school mask rule ended in March as the state emerged from the winter omicron surge and vaccinations increased.
The state is also ending its “test to stay” policy, which means students and teachers can stay in school even if they have been exposed to someone COVID-positive as long as they wear a mask for 10 days.
“If a student or teacher is exposed, has a close contact who’s exposed, and they don’t have symptoms, they no longer have to go home, they will stay in school,” Hochul said.
A student draws on a piece of paper during the second to last day of school as New York City public schools prepare to wrap up the year at Yung Wing School P.S. 124 on June 24, 2022 in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/)
Children and teachers who test positive for the virus should stay home for five days and can return with a mask once their symptoms subside.
The CDC still encourages testing for people with symptoms and their close contacts. Officials also say people who test positive should stay home for at least five days and wear a mask around others for 10 days.
The governor added that New York will distribute COVID testing kits to schools as planned to begin the academic year.
Schools can still require coronavirus testing for “close contact” activities such as sports or choir groups, Hochul said.
“We’ll leave that up to individual schools to make that determination, but it is no longer recommended from the CDC or the Department of Health that there be this random screening either,” she said.
Letters were sent to school districts Monday detailing the full guidelines from Health Department officials.
A registered nurse prepares a dose of a monkeypox vaccine at the Salt Lake County Health Department Thursday, July 28, 2022, in Salt Lake City. (Rick Bowmer/)
The changes come as the state also faces concerns about the spread of polio and monkeypox.
State Health Commissioner Mary Bassett encouraged New Yorkers to get vaccinated against polio if they have not already done so now that wastewater samples have shown the once-rare virus to be circulating in the city and surrounding suburbs.
An initial case of paralytic polio was confirmed in Rockland County earlier this summer, the first recorded case in the U.S. in more than a decade. Vaccination rates in Rockland and neighboring Orange County are significantly lower than the statewide 79%.
Bassett said New York is changing the way it administers monkeypox vaccines as cases surged to nearly 2,800 statewide. The new method will lower the dosage in an effort to immunize more people despite a dearth of vaccines from the federal government.
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Bassett also said the state will be releasing more data related to vaccination efforts against monkeypox and noted that there is concern about equity among minority populations and Black men in particular.
With Chris Sommerfeldt
