• D.C. mayor: City employees must be fully vaccinated or get tested weekly,

WASHINGTON — District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Tuesday all city employees and contractors will be required to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing for the coronavirus, with vaccination required for new employees.

Ms. Bowser, a Democrat, stopped short of issuing a full mandate, and officials argued that educating employees about the vaccine and allowing for a testing option — instead of issuing a blanket requirement — would ultimately increase vaccination rates.

If it doesn’t, City Administrator Kevin Donahue said the city would consider other strategies.

“The goal is to get everyone vaccinated,” Mr. Donahue said. “There is an opportunity working with our employees and their unions to be able to boost our vaccine numbers much higher than they are now, I believe without getting to the point where we have to impose a mandate as a condition of employment.”

The order — which applies to all city employees and contractors, including teachers, police officers and sanitation workers — requires them to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 19 or take weekly coronavirus tests. Employees who fill job openings that were posted after Aug. 13 will be required to get vaccinated unless they have a medical or religious objection, in which case they will be required to get weekly tests.

But the order will not apply to teachers and staff at charter schools, which are publicly funded and privately operated institutions that educate nearly 50% of public school children. Many charter schools are expected to enact a similar rule among their employees, according to local charter leaders.

So far just 59% of the city’s 37,000 workers have reported their vaccination status to officials, according to District data, with 54% of those employees reporting being fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated employees will be required to complete selftest kits and, with the help of their supervisors, virtually upload proof of a negative test each week.