SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Public schools and colleges will open this fall despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the state will provide 2.5 million face coverings to K-12 students to stymie transmission of the virus.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state education administrators on Tuesday announced COVID-19 safety guidelines for community colleges and universities. The state’s two major teachers unions, the Illinois Education Association and Illinois Federation of Teachers, expressed concern that safety precautions are lacking.

The announcement came a day after Pritzker said that the illness remains under control enough to allow the state to move on Friday to further loosen restrictions on social interaction.