New York health officials are dropping some testing requirements for unvaccinated state employees.

The New York state Health Department announced the weekly testing program for unvaccinated state employees was suspended as of this week.

It was one of the few pandemic restrictions still in place.

The program had been launched when the vaccine-or-test rule went into effect for 116,000 employees not in health care roles at state agencies.

Unvaccinated teachers will have to wait a bit longer to stop testing as state officials extended the requirement for educators until the end of the month. They also plan on ending weekly screening for students.

Schools will still be required to report positive cases to the state.

Case numbers across New York continue to drop. The state's seven-day positivity rate is now down to 5.6%, with the Mid-Hudson region down to 6.3%.

Still, more than 2,000 New Yorkers remain in the hospital with COVID-19.