Hochul orders boosters for CUNY, SUNY students, extends mask mandate
CUNY and SUNY students will be required to get their COVID-19 boosters by next semester — while the state’s “Vax or Mask” mandate for businesses is now extended till Feb. 1, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday.
Hochul — announcing the moves amid a tidal wave of Omicron cases sweeping the nation — also said she has asked the Biden administration to allow New York to require visitors to local nursing homes to have proof of vaccination in order to see loved ones.
She pointed out that thousands of frail nursing-home residents died during the initial outbreak of the virus last year.
The booster edict for CUNY and SUNY students requires them to get the third shot before they return to their campuses for the spring semester, which starts within weeks. The students previously were required to get COVID-vaccinates and are regularly tested for the virus.
“In order to return to your college campus, you have to be boosted. This will be part of the reopening,” Hochul said.
The governor pointed out how contagious COVID can be among young people congregating in a campus setting, particularly with the highly transmissible Omicron strain of the virus.
Meanwhile, she said the state’s “Vax or Mask” mandate, expected to expire Jan. 15, will be extended to Feb. 1.
The rule requires masks to be worn in all indoor public places unless businesses or venues implement a vaccine requirement.
Incoming New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he will extend an order implemented by outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio requiring private-sector employees to get vaccinated — a mandate that has provoked a backlash among small merchants struggling to survive.
Hochul also announced the latest sobering state COVID figures, noting that 7,919 residents were hospitalized with the virus, including about half — 3,925 — in New York City medical facilities as of Thursday, keeping with recent highs. Eighty people died.
She emphasized what The Post reported on Thursday — that the overwhelming majority of patients hospitalized for COVID are unvaccinated.
“The answer is right before us. Get vaccinated,” she said.
She said her five-point plan amid Omicron focuses on: keeping kids in school; mask-wearing and ramping up testing; preventing severe illness and death, increasing vaccination and booster rates, and working with local officials to implement the plan.
