Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday that the students at SUNY and CUNY schools will be required to get Covid-19 booster as of Jan. 15.
Students will also have to go for mandatory pre-testing ahead of their semester return, which will apply to all students who plan to regularly access campus. Each campus will develop and communicate a testing plan.
The college plan was part of a winter surge plan the governor announced Friday, which focused on five areas: keeping students in school, doubling down on masks and testing, preventing severe illness and death, increasing access to vaccines and boosters, and working together with local leader
“Remember this, we’re going to keep kids in school, number one. We’re going to keep wearing masks and keep testing, number two. We’re going to prevent severe illness and deaths number three. We’re going to keep increasing our vaccines and boosters in adults and kids and we’re going to keep working in collaboration with local leaders.”
“As we head into the holiday weekend, New York State is mobilizing every resource at our disposal to fight the winter surge and keep New Yorkers safe,” Governor Hochul said. “We can get through this surge through targeted actions, partnerships with local leaders, and by taking common sense steps to keep us all safe: get vaccinated, get boosted, and wear a mask indoors.”
The plan to keep students in school includes:
- Providing tests to students and school districts: 5.56 million tests arrived for schools this week and between six and seven million more are expected to arrive in the coming days. Overall, New York State has secured 37 million tests for distribution.
- Working with counties to implement Test–to-Stay, to keep kids in school. 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.