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On her first day in office, the new governor said that she will be directing the state’s Department of Health to require universal masking for anyone entering school buildings, while all staff will have to be vaccinated, or submit to weekly testing.
“Priority number one is getting children back to school, and protect the environment so they can learn, and everyone is safe,’' she said. ‘I’ve been in the trenches with local health officials and leaders battling the pandemic day after day.
“I am ready to get to work as your governor to solve the big issues the state faces. Right now that means battling the Delta variant. And we will take proactive steps to prevent that from happening.”
Hochul added: “None of us want a rerun of last year’s horrors with COVID-19.”
Moving forward, Hochul said that she will provide further details of her plans for both schools and battling the summer surge of COVID-19 later this week.
Hochul also made note that now that the FDA has fully authorized the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, more mandates could be coming for more businesses, schools, and other outlets.
“We’re launching a back-to-school COVID-19 testing program to make testing more widely available and convenient,” she said. “Later this week, school-related policies will be released that will be concise and consistent to give schools what they have been asking for.”
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