Colorado school districts will have access to more than 1 million rapid COVID-19 tests per month to better track the coronavirus as the pandemic enters a new year, Gov. Jared Polis said Wednesday.

The state is one of three to partner with BinaxNOW, which produces rapid COVID-19 tests, to bring the tests to public and private schools through June, Polis said, calling the tests “easy, cheap, accurate, accessible.”

“Now our schools will have that same level of intense testing that really only existed in the rarefied strata of sports teams and the White House,” Polis said.

School districts and private schools can order the tests – which can be shipped directly to the homes of students and staff, or to schools and administered on site – and will be supported by telehealth appointments, he added.

It’s up to the schools how they use them, but “we believe that having a test a week is very effective,” Polis said, adding that they can be used on site to determine if symptomatic individuals have the virus, provide peace of mind to those who think they’ve been exposed and potentially end quarantines early.

Schools can continue to opt to receive N95 masks for their staff members, he said, adding that the state has provided 2.4 million masks to schools so far. The state will now also offer surgical masks for educators who prefer them, as they are less bulky, he added.

Polis said he hopes the partnership helps schools “finish out the school year on a safer note.”

Teachers and other education professionals can expect to be be vaccinated in March along with other “essential” workers, though school health professionals can be vaccinated now, state officials said Wednesday.

In other Colorado COVID news:

– Another case of a new, highly infectious COVID-19 mutation has been diagnosed in Colorado, officials said Wednesday.

No further information was given. The number of potential cases of the mutant strain being investigated was not readily available, officials said.

A National Guardsman in his 20s who was deployed to a nursing home in Elbert County to assist with staffing was the first case in the state and country, state officials said last week, adding that his symptoms were mild and that he was isolating at his home in Arapahoe County. A second National Guardsman working at that nursing home was also suspected of having the mutant strain and was isolating at a hotel in Lincoln County, they said.

Officials Wednesday would not say if the guardsman suspected last week of having the variant is the state’s second case.

The variant, known as B.1.1.7 and discovered in Europe last month, appears to be 70% more contagious than the dominant strain of COVID-19, Colorado officials have said.

– More than 2,550 new cases of the sometimes deadly virus were reported Wednesday, Polis said, and 911 were hospitalized.

– Residents and staff of long-term care facilities should be vaccinated by the end of January at the latest, officials said.

– Local public health agencies should work on vaccinating the highest-risk health care workers who have not yet been vaccinated, as well as moderate-risk health care workers and first responders, officials said. Health care providers should focus on vaccinating those 70 and older, they added.

– Hospital systems should be notifying patients who are 70 and older via their online portals when they’re able to receive a vaccine, Polis said.

– The state hopes to vaccinate all interested seniors 70 and older by Feb. 28, officials said Wednesday, adding that fatalities are expected to drop 75% in the state once that population has been vaccinated.