NEW YORK — New York state should require school personnel to get vaccinated — or get tested for COVID-19 on a weekly basis, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on her first day in office.
Hochul, 62, who replaced Andrew Cuomo as governor of New York at the stroke of midnight Tuesday, delivered her first address to New Yorkers Tuesday afternoon.
In addition to calling for the vaccine or testing mandate, Hochul said the state should require "universal masking for anyone who enters our schools."
New York will also overhaul its ethics, transparency and sexual harassment training, and consider reopening mass vaccination sites to administer COVID-19 booster shots, she said.
Hochul is the state's first female governor. She was sworn in at a brief, private ceremony shortly after midnight, before sharing remarks at a public swearing-in ceremony Tuesday morning.
"This is an emotional moment for me, but it is one that I have prepared for," she said at the public ceremony. "And I am so looking forward to continuing the work we have to do."
Hochul spoke with President Joe Biden Monday night, in a call during which he "pledged his full support to my administration, and anything we need," she noted.
As she left the Capitol following the midnight ceremony, she spoke with CBS2 and was asked what she was thinking about as she took that oath.
"I thought about all of the women who came before me, including my mother who was not there, but a lot of women through history and I felt they passed the torch to me," Hochul said. "I feel the weight of responsibility on my shoulders and I will tell New Yorkers I'm up for the task."
Her to-do list is long as she takes office, including tackling COVID and vaccine rules, getting rent relief out, and rebuilding relationships.
She's also focused on changing the culture in Albany, which will include taking a fresh collaborative approach on governing.
"I want people to believe in their government again. It's important to me that people have faith," Hochul said.
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That collaboration extends down to New York City Hall following years of rocky relations between Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Hochul says she plans to speak often with the mayor starting with a meeting last week.
"And we talked about this era of cooperation, that there's been no blind siding, there'll be just full cooperation because I need his best and brightest integrated with my best and brightness and that's how we'll get through this," Hochul said.
This all comes in the shadow of an election coming next year. Hochul said she would like to run for a full term.
Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie celebrated Hochul's historic swearing-in in a statement Tuesday.
"Today, we have sworn in the first woman to serve as governor of New York. From State Senate majority leader to state attorney general to vice president of the United States, we continue to see women rise through the ranks of government, and it is a welcome trend," Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie said in a statement. "My colleagues and I know that our state is facing many significant challenges, and we are prepared to partner with Governor Hochul in addressing them. We look forward to working with her to ensure our children can safely return to school, New Yorkers are able to stay in their homes, small businesses can thrive again, our work to end to the scourge of gun violence continues and to fight the resurgence of COVID-19 to finally put this pandemic behind us."
"We stand ready to work with Governor Hochul to continue moving New York forward," Heastie added.
Meanwhile, New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on Monday night released Gov. Andrew Cuomo's resignation letter, which he submitted earlier in the evening, ahead of his 11:59 p.m. departure from office.
The short letter is addressed to Stewart-Cousins and Speaker of the New York State Assembly Carl Heastie.
"I hereby tender my resignation for the office of Governor of the State of New York," Cuomo, 63, writes. "This resignation will be effective at 12:00 a.m., August 24, 2021. It has been my pleasure to serve with you both."
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