New York Governor Kathy Hochul was in Buffalo on Wednesday, as she held her weekly COVID-19 press briefing at Erie County Medical Center.
Gov. Hochul addressed the latest with regards to at-home testing for COVID-19 the state's efforts to make those rapid tests available to the public with the Omicron variant making its way across the state.
"We made sure we got those orders in when we could," Hochul said. "We have five million take-home tests that will be available in the state by the 31st on New Year's Eve. You can get tested. Two million of those are going to our school districts, a million going to our county emergency managers... 1.6 million going to New York City, and 400,000 are going to [New York State Vaccination Sites]."
With all the at-home tests the state has ordered when it's all said-and-done, Gov. Hochul says they are expecting 37 million additional take-home tests for New York residents.
Gov. Hochul also says the state is planning on making a portal available for people to order these take-home tests. The state does not want to make people gather or wait in line any more than they should to acquire these at-home tests.
Meanwhile, the Governor also addressed the importance of keeping kids in school and how these at-home tests will help avoid some students from finding themselves out of the classroom if coming into close contact with any fellow students who test positive for COVID-19.
"We have to keep schools open," Gov. Hochul said. "We want to make sure after this holiday break that on [Jan. 3], or shortly thereafter, that kids can safely come back to school. We saw how devastating this experiment was in having children work remotely, and the stress was on the teachers and the parents. We can't set these kids back again.
"The wonderful difference from last time and now is we now have vaccinations available for everybody from five-years-old on up. So there's no excuses. If the children are vaccinated, the teachers is vaccinated and the support staff is vaccinated, this can be as safe a place as anywhere, and allowing them the continue that essential learning that they missed out on for far too long."
With the addition of the at-home tests being made available for schools and residents of the state going forward, this will be a key asset for the state's "Back to Learning" Program and the test-to-stay policies being tested out for future use.
"If a child tests positive, a child is exposed in the classroom to someone who tested positive - Obviously, the child testing positive is going home, but the entire class can go home with state-provided testing kits that the parents will be able to use on their children, with directions, test the child. If they are negative, the first day - send them back to school. A few days later, test again, and if they continue to be negative; there's no reason why we have to have such a disruption," Hochul said.
Gov. Hochul also said on Wednesday she wants to see a higher number of kids getting vaccinated for COVID-19. She believes with the time allotted for families during the Christmas break, it is "the best Christmas gift you can give them, the gift of health."
Despite COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continuing to increase state-wide, as well as the Omicron variant becoming more of a growing danger to some, Gov. Hochul urges people not to panic, and that no one should be panicking compared to where we were back in 2020.
"We have the resources we need. We have vaccines, we have boosters, we have masks," Gov. Hochul said. "We have people that are being smart with social distancing, and making sure that if they have any symptoms whatsoever, they're staying home away from work, church, school and their loved ones. It's not March of 2020. It's not even December of 2020. We have to keep this in context."
You can listen to the entire briefing with Gov. Hochul below: