The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will require their workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine or get tested weekly starting next month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

Cuomo also told a briefing that he was asking private businesses to require vaccines for admission and that mandatory vaccines should be considered for nursing home workers, teachers and healthcare workers if case numbers do not improve.

"If you want to teach my kids, I think you should be vaccinated," Cuomo said.

The development marks the latest attempt by government leaders to spur reluctant Americans to get vaccinated as the Delta variant of the coronavirus surges nationwide, infecting unvaccinated people in particular.

Cuomo's announcement comes on the heels of a decision by President Joe Biden to require millions of federal workers and contractors to show proof of vaccination or be subject to weekly or twice-weekly COVID-19 tests.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) ((nathan.layne@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 7217))