ALBANY COUNTY — At her first press conference dealing with COVID-19 in more than a month, Governor Kathy Hochul on Monday laid out back-to-school protocols following the relaxed guidelines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had put out the week before.

She noted that statewide COVID cases, as a seven-day average, now are at about 22 per 100,000 of population, down from 35 a month ago and from 381 at the peak of the Omicron surge in January. About 2,3000 New Yorkers with COVID are currently hospitalized.

A year ago, when Hochul was “brand new on the job,” she recalled schools had to observe social distancing, quarantining after exposure to the virus, and testing negative to stay in school.

“It was confusing, very frustrating, stressful, the unknown, fear of the unknown, because this was the first fall when our expectation was that everybody went back to school,” Hochul said.

This year’s landscape is different, she said, adding, “We’re expecting it to be a much, much easier year for parents and for schools.”

The biggest changes in CDC guidelines, which The Enterprise detailed last week, as applied to schools are these:

— Quarantine

The CDC no longer recommends quarantining when someone is exposed to COVID-19 except in high-risk congregate settings like nursing homes. However, anyone who has been exposed, regardless of vaccination status or history of previous COVID infection, is to wear a well-fitting mask or respirator for 10 days and get tested at least five days after close contact or sooner if symptoms develop.

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

— Sick or symptomatic

The CDC still recommends that people who are sick stay home so any student or staff member with symptoms of respiratory or gastrointestinal infections such as a cough, fever, sore throat, vomiting, or diarrhea should stay home.

As soon as COVID symptoms start, testing should be undertaken.

Those at risk for getting very sick should consult with a health-care provider as soon as they test positive. People without a doctor can call 1-888-TREAT-NY for free;

— Isolation

People who have tested positive or are waiting for test results should stay home. If someone tests positive but has no symptoms, that person has to isolate for just five days.

If someone had symptoms, they can stop isolating on the fifth day only if they have been fever-free, without fever-reducing medication, for 24 hours and symptoms are improving.

People should wear a mask for 10 days after ending isolation.

Antigen testing is not required to end isolation but some schools may allow test-based strategy to potentially shorten the length of time for post-isolation mask use.

Last March, Hochul had lifted the state mask requirements for schools.

She said at Monday’s press conference that there are some circumstances in which schools may want to do screening tests for such high-risk activities as wrestling or singing close together in a choir.

She noted that, in the past two years, since the advent of COVID-19, “Numbers tend to spike in the fall, the weather gets colder, people congregate more.”

Opening up

Hochul added, “And this fall, we’re really hoping the doors are open, not just to schools, but to offices after Labor Day.”

Hochul said tourists have returned to New York City and restaurants are crowded but urged, “We’d love to see everybody going back in their offices or at least on a hybrid situation.”

Throughout the press conference, she stressed the importance of vaccination and particularly urged parents to get their children vaccinated. Fewer than 40 percent of children aged 5 to 11 have completed a vaccination series.

All school children age 5 and older are eligible for a booster shot.

Hochul also stressed the importance of testing. She said one test kit per child will be available at the start of the school year “but schools can request additional kits,” she said.

New York State has over 14 million kits in inventory, Hochul said, and has procured another 6 million.

She also said, “We want to make sure every New Yorker has access to medical assistance and treatment should they contract the virus.”

Currently, Hochul said, 40 percent of the state’s pharmacies have received therapeutics from the federal government as well as 44 state sites. “But,” she stressed, “there has to be equitable access to this or this system doesn’t work.”

The state’s hotline, launched in July, has so far received over 1,700 calls, resulting in 1,100 visits for treatment, Hochul said.

With the Fall Action Plan underway, Hochul said, she hopes “maybe we won’t need a winter plan.”