The new school year comes as health officials in New York state are monitoring a new strain of COVID-19.

It's causing some concern as hospitalizations increased as scientists discovered the new BA.2.86 mutation.

What You Need To Know

  • As the new school year starts, health officials monitor a new COVID variant, University of Rochester professor of infectious diseases Dr. Ann Falsey says to encourage thorough hand washing to help stop the spread of COVID, the flu, rhinovirus and other infectious diseases in school and out

  • Monroe County Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Michael Mendoza says he does not expect mandates for students heading back to school in the way of masking or COVID-19 vaccines

  • Questions are now being raised about how the next dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will fare against the strain, while Moderna officials have said they are confident their updated shot will offer protection.

Questions are now being raised about how the next dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will fare against the strain. Moderna officials have said they are confident their updated shot will offer protection.

"These results demonstrate that our updated COVID-19 vaccine generates a strong human immune response against the highly mutated BA.2.86 variant,” Moderna president Stephen Hoge said in a statement. “Taken together with our previously communicated results showing a similarly effective response against EG.5 and FL.1.5.1 variants, these data confirm that our updated COVID-19 vaccine will continue to be an important tool for protection as we head into the fall vaccination season. Moderna will continue to rapidly assess global public health threats and is committed to leveraging our mRNA platform against COVID-19."

For students heading back to school, it's always a time when germs start to spread and we start to see more illnesses.

Health officials are keeping a close eye on what will develop this fall, especially as the new variant of COVID-19 is picking up the pace.

A professor of medicine says keeping the germs away from your child may be more simple than you think.

“I think sensible good hand hygiene and talking about it so they don’t get scared," said University of Rochester professor of infectious diseases Dr. Ann Falsey.

She says thorough hand washing will help stop the spread of COVID-19, the flu, rhinovirus and other infectious diseases.

“We generally see the viruses kick up when people come together,” Falsey said. “And so before COVID, when kids went back to school, it was all rhinovirus and it was spread around like gangbusters and children with asthma would really have problems. So we don’t quite know the epidemiology yet. Everything’s still a little bit off with COVID.”

Gone are the mask mandates, desk separators and online learning. Students and school leaders have made it clear that they do not want to return to those days.

The new vaccine is expected to be available to the public before the end of this month.

This comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to track the latest on the COVID variant BA.2.86.

Monroe County's Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Michael Mendoza says he does not expect to see mandates for students heading back to school in the way of masking or COVID-19 vaccines.