Two counties order booster shots for high-risk workers
Mandates sparked by COVID-19 omicron variant’s rapid spread
Spurred by an alarming surge of COVID-19 case rates across the state, two Bay Area counties — Santa Clara and Contra Costa — have issued new orders requiring many employees in high-risk jobs to get booster shots next month.
Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody announced Dec. 28 that workers in health care settings, nursing homes, homeless shelters and correctional facilities in the county must get boosters by Jan. 24. The mandate, expected to affect about 150,000 public employees and private health care workers, was sparked by the omicron variant’s rapid spread since bursting into the COVID-19 scene just weeks ago.
On Dec. 27, Contra Costa County announced an even more aggressive new rule: It will require first responders and other high-risk workers to get their booster shots bytoday if they don’t want to be tested weekly for the coronavirus.
The requirement will apply to the county’s law enforcement officers and firefighters, as well as emergency medical workers who enter facilities such as hospitals, jails, nursing homes and assistedliving centers as part of their jobs.
“Our cases here in Santa Clara County are spiking,” Cody said. “And the vast majority of them are omicron.”
Although COVID-19 hospitalization rates are flat in Santa Clara County, Cody said she expects them to begin rising quickly and noted that the booster mandate is an attempt to protect workers when pressure mounts on the region’s health care system.
“Boosting is necessary for the best protection from omicron infection and transmission,” Dr. Chris Farnitano, Contra Costa County’s health officer, said in a news release. “Our hospitals are at risk of being overwhelmed if a large number of our most vulnerable residents get sick.”
The two counties appear to be the first in California to require boosters amid the nationwide omicron surge. Their orders are more sweeping than the one announced last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom, which requires only health care workers to get boosters. The University of California and California State University systems also required faculty, staff and students to get boosters.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo on Dec. 21 proposed that all city employees and visitors of cityowned venues be required to get booster shots. The City Council will consider the proposal next month.
Alameda, San Francisco and San Mateo counties said they had no plans to order boosters. However, a spokeswoman for Marin County said health officials there have begun exploring the possibility of a booster requirement.
So far, about 36% of Contra Costa County residents age 16 and older — the current eligible group under federal rules — have gotten booster shots, which health officials say reduce the risk of serious illness from all strains of COVID-19, including the omicron variant.
Contra Costa County’s COVID-19 cases have spiked since Dec. 18, going from a daily sevenday case rate of 159.4 to an average of 379.7 cases on Sunday, according to data provided by the health department.
There are currently 52 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county and 12 in the intensive care unit, numbers that have also steadily risen this month. The vast majority of hospitalizations are among unvaccinated residents, according to the data.
Yet not everyone is convinced workers should be forced to get inoculated. Vito Impastato, president of the union that represents battalion chiefs in the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, said the mandate is a “political move” instead of a genuine effort to curb COVID-19 cases.
“It feels like there’s this big worry about the next variant and the next variant after that,” Impastato said. “When you look at what we’ve been able to do over the last two years in not having that many sick cases within our department, it just feels like a shot in the dark — no pun intended.”
The Santa Clara County mandate allows for exemptions based on religion, and workers who don’t receive a booster will be reassigned to a less-risky work environment.
In mid-december, Cody warned of a “deluge” of omicron cases that would hit the county. That prediction has proven prescient — the number of cases rose from about 250 a day on Dec. 16 to more than 1,000 a day by Dec. 23, the latest data that Cody cited.
“Even a small portion will have a significant impact on our hospitals,” she said. “And that’s what we are concerned about. And that’s why we’re trying to do everything we can to protect the health care system so it is there to serve everyone.”
While Santa Clara County’s vaccination rates remain among the highest in the country — 81.2% of the county’s entire population has at least two doses — booster rates remain a challenge. Cody said 52% of eligible county residents have received a booster, while 67% of residents ages 65 and up have it.
SEIU Local 2015 President April Verrett, whose union represents more than 1,000 skilled nursing facility workers in the county, said in a statement she supports the mandate.
“We continue to believe vaccination — including boosters — is the best weapon available in the battle against this pandemic, protecting against infection and slowing the development of variants,” Verrett said. She added that those who get an exemption for the booster should be accommodated and called on nursing homes to “ensure that any vaccine mandate must take into account staffing shortages.”