Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Meisha Porter on Monday announced changes to the COVID-19 guidelines in New York City schools. The announcement comes after the United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew wrote a letter to the mayor and chancellor saying biweekly testing was insufficient.

De Blasio made two major announcements Monday. New York City will move from biweekly to weekly testing at elementary, middle and high schools. This is following a surge in cases in just the first week of in-person learning. He also announced changes to the quarantine guidelines. Now, unvaccinated students will not have to quarantine if they have been properly masking and social distancing with at least 3 feet of space.

Prior to this change, unvaccinated students had to quarantine for 10 days if someone in their class tested positive for the virus.

The mayor and health commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi say their goal is to keep children inside the classrooms learning in a safe manner.

The new guidelines will go into effect on Sept. 27, which is also the same day by which all Department of Education employees must get their first dose of the vaccine.