Governor Kathy Hochul
Governor Kathy Hochul has announced her Winter Surge plans to deal with increasing cases of COVID-19.
Hochul’s plan focuses on five core areas: keeping students in school, doubling down on masks and testing, preventing severe illness and death, increasing access to vaccines and boosters, and working with local leaders.
Hochul said the state is breaking records with new cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations still on the rise.
New York State will provide 37 million tests to be distributed to school districts. The state also will work with counties to implement test-to-stay policies. If a student tests positive, classmates can take a test kit back home with them and return to the classroom upon receiving a negative result instead of mandatory quarantining.
SUNY and CUNY will be introducing a new requirement for all students to get boosters, campuses will require mandatory mask wearing in public indoor spaces, and will require all faculty to be vaccinated. Students will also be required to submit negative tests upon returning to campus.
The mask mandate has been extended to February 1st. The mandate requires masks in all public indoor spaces, including businesses, gyms and entertainment venues, with an exception for businesses that implemented a vaccination requirement for entry. Local health departments were instructed to enforce the measure.
The mandate was originally set to end on January 15, at which point the COVID-19 conditions would be evaluated to determine whether the mandate should be extended, Hochul said. It will be extended two more weeks, Hochul said Friday, with the same caveat that it may be extended further depending on COVID conditions.
Hochul also noted Friday that the state recommends N95 or KN95 masks, and said 5 million of them had been sent to counties.
Leave a Reply