I doubt OP is a teacher. I assume she's upset that teachers can no longer be instructed to suck-it-up-and-go-to-work if the pandemic worsens and we go back to lockdowns.
But this doesn't actually change anything. Cuomo has already announced that he will shut down schools at 5% and DeBlasio at 3%. If the definition of "essential worker" becomes pertinent again, we will already be at those thresholds and schools will be closed.
Where did you hear this ?
I'm confused. Are you a teacher and you want to be an essential worker? Isn't it just a nice term for suck-it-up-and-go-to-work?