Governor Kathy Hochul holds a briefing on COVID 19 and Monkeypox on Aug. 22. (Courtesy of Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

ALBANY — With students poised to return to classrooms, state officials have decided to cancel a rule requiring pupils and teachers to quarantine if they have been exposed to the COVID-19 virus.

The new rules put New York into alignment with revamped guidance issued earlier this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It means students exposed to the virus won’t have to “test to stay” in classrooms.

The updated rules for New York schools were announced in New York City by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who one year earlier had imposed a mask mandate on students. That requirement is also being lifted for the coming school year.

“The days of sending an entire classroom home because one person was symptomatic or tests positive, those days are over,” Hochul said.

Hochul stressed classroom instruction plays a crucial role in children’s development, noting the last two years provided assurances that school buildings have been safe places during the pandemic.

“When they’re not in a classroom and the learning stops, the traditional learning stops, it can be devastating for the wellbeing of those children.” Hochul said.

Teachers and students testing positive for the virus will be required to remain home for five days, then wear masks when they return.

Under the rules, school administrators will have the flexibility to determine whether to test participants in school activities involving close contact, such as sports.

Niagara Falls Schools Supt. Mark Laurrie said he welcomes the state’s new guidance, saying: “What needs to prevail now are the good common sense and universal precautions we’ve learned over the last three years. Not having such a didactic, prescriptive, mandatory set of rules is the right way to move ahead as we get ready to embark on the school year.”

Hochul has been using special emergency powers to manage the pandemic, powers she recently extended despite objections from GOP lawmakers who say it is no longer necessary for her to have such sweeping authority. But the governor said Monday she expects to end the emergency order soon.

Reacting to Hochul’s announcements, Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-Long Island, insisted her emergency powers end immediately.

“Her COVID vaccine mandate must end, everyone who was fired as a result should be offered their jobs back with back pay, and she should stop dragging her feet on her long overdue and long promised COVID investigation,” Zeldin said.

State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt, R-Niagara County, echoed that sentiment, calling the termination of school-related COVID restrictions “a long overdue victory for parents and students across New York.”

Hochul linked her decision to cancel the restrictions to what she called the lessons learned from the “experiment” of the raft of rules schools faced for two years, and the negative impacts remote learning had on children.

David Little, director of the Rural Schools Association, said more compelling reasons for dropping restrictions are the facts that there is now a vaccine available for children and that the current variant of the virus tends to produce mild symptoms in many cases of those who get the infection, whereas the initial strain was responsible for a wave of deaths.

But Little said he agreed remote classrooms took a toll on the mental health of children.

“It’s certainly beneficial to be able to return to normalcy — for rural children in particular,” Little said. “For the rest of society, staying home to do your school work was an inconvenience. For rural children, it was solitary confinement. We’re more than happy to have the opportunity to provide education in the way that it was meant to be provided.”

The latest state — and CDC — guidance calls for students and school staffers to wear masks or respirators for 10 days if they have been exposed to COVID-19. If they come down with symptoms of the illness, they are directed to get tested for the virus.

“Antigen testing is not required to end isolation,” the new guidance states. “However, some schools may allow use of the ‘test-based strategy’ to potentially shorten the length of time for post-isolation mask use.”