Gov. Kathy Hochul is monitoring the COVID-19 uptick in New York as the highly contagious Omicron subvariant BA.5 drives cases up across the state.

Hochul says she is planning to protect kids so they can stay in class but is not mandating masks at this time for when school resumes.

"Here's what we're proposing. We are now distributing as we speak over 3 million test kits to school districts to make sure that every student and member of their staff can test before the first day," says Hochul.

Hochul did say that she does have the right to change her position on masks if cases rise.