Gov. Kathy Hochul provided an update Monday on how schools plan to address COVID-19 and monkeypox when students return to classrooms this September.

Across the state, schools will no longer be required to quarantine students and staff who are exposed to the virus or do random or daily testing for COVID. The governor says cases have been steadily trending downward.

The announcement comes just a few days after the city also rolled back its regulations following new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A big change came last week when the CDC reduced its recommended isolation period to just five days if a person is exposed to COVID-19 - as long as they wear a mask and aren't experiencing any symptoms.

Hochul says her administration is following the agency's lead.

However, as she celebrated lower hospitalization numbers and vaccination progress, Hochul and state health officials also addressed concerns parents might have about the monkeypox virus after a case was detected for the first time in a child in New York.

The governor says the state will be administering monkeypox vaccinations through a different strategy that goes just beneath the surface of the skin rather than into the fat. The state health commissioner says this uses a smaller dose of the vaccine but has proven to still be effective.

The governor also said the specifics of these new guidelines in schools would be sent out to parents and schools later today.