It's been more than six months since New York state lifted its classroom mask mandates. Now, some schools could bring them back as the state Health Department and the state Education Department made new recommendations to school districts.

With cases of respiratory syntactical virus (RSV), the flu and COVID-19 on the rise, state health and education leaders are highlighting a number of precautions school leaders should consider to curb the spread of the illnesses.

One of the most notable recommendations is the use of masks. This, of course, was a controversial mandate during the height of pandemic.

In speaking with several school districts, it appears most are choosing to stick with their current approach, and in most cases, that does not include masks.

Beyond masks, health officials are encouraging people to make sure their families are up to date on all vaccines. They’re also reminding New Yorkers of some classic preventative measures like hand-washing, sneezing and coughing into your elbow, and staying home while symptomatic.

For folks in the South Colonie Central School District, school leaders say students and staff are much more vigilant than they were two years ago when it comes to illness.

“We’re doing our best to remind people of the best suggestions to mitigate any sort of flu or virus, COVID or not," said Christopher Robilotti, assistant superintendent for human resources at South Colonie schools. "A lot of the things that we learned through COVID we can still practice, but they’re great suggestions, and where I really think people are doing a good job is staying home when they’re sick.”

There's a similar sentiment coming from teachers.

The New York State United Teachers, a union representing more than 600,000 teachers across the state, released a statement Friday.

“As always, we support efforts to make our schools safe environments for teaching and learning. That said, it's important to note that the DOH recommendations are just that: recommendations for common sense precautions that can be employed to reduce the spread of illnesses in school settings.”