As COVID-19 positivity rates are decreasing in New York, the State has issued new guidelines for mask-wearing for summer school students.

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On Wednesday, the New York Department of Health sent updated guidelines to school superintendents throughout the state.

As the positivity rates for COVID-19 transmissions are decreasing throughout the state, the state’s Department of Health has changed its guidelines to allow school superintendents more flexibility.

According to NBC New Yorkthe State changed its guidelines to be more in line with CDC recommendations. Summer school programs will follow the same guidelines as summer camps and they will not require students to wear masks outdoors. The Health Department is still requiring everyone to wear masks while indoors.

Governor Andrew Cuomo recently spoke about the new change. He said, “The numbers show that the risk of transmission by children is extremely low, especially in this state, which has an extremely low positivity rate. We spoke with the CDC, and since they’re not going to change their guidance for several weeks in New York State, we’re going to modify the CDC guidelines and allow schools to choose no mask outdoors
for children. We’ll leave that up to the local school districts and we spoke to the CDC, which has no objection. It’s very important that people understand the logic between these decisions and that they’re rational and based on the science and the data.”

Governor Cuomo also said that he intends for all New York State schools to open for full in person classes for the 2021-2022 school year.

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