New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
City to require employees to be vaccinated or tested
NEW HAVEN — All city employees will have to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or submit to weekly testing under an emergency order Mayor Justin Elicker signed, Elicker announced Friday afternoon, flanked by Director of Health Maritza Bond and Corporation Counsel Patricia
King.
The order applies to about 2,000 municipal employees, including parttime employees, interns, seasonal employees and provisional employees. It does not apply to about 4,000 Board of Education employees who are covered by a previous executive order put in place by Gov. Ned Lamont, Elicker said.
“The mandate is that employees have to get vaccinated or submit to testing,” Elicker said at a press conference outside City Hall’s back door.
The employees will be required to upload their vaccine information into the city’s new COVID-19 vaccine and testing portal between Sept. 7 and 14. The formal policy, which Elicker said is similar to mandates in Illinois, California and Minnesota, goes into effect Sept. 27, he said.
Employees who do not comply “will face disciplinary action” and will not be allowed to come to work, Elicker said.
“We’re really working toward compliance,” said King. “We are not trying to use this policy as a way of inflicting discipline.”
She said later, “I expect there will be some leeway with these employees to get them to comply.”
Elicker added, however, “We expect employees to abide by this policy . ... We will hold people accountable.”
As Elicker, Bond and King spoke, several city union heads stood behind a bank of reporters and photographers, listening. They declined to comment.
Elicker said he would be meeting with union leaders later in the afternoon.
King said the mandate “furthers the city’s goals of providing a safe workplace” and protecting city employees. Because the city has a wide variety of employees, some of whom are more comfortable with computers than others, “We’ve worked hard to be user-friendly,” she said.
The city needed “a policy that was going to work for a wide variety of people,” King said.
“We’re excited to be implementing this executive order,” said Bond, who added that it could only be put in place following “a well thought-out process.”
In New Haven, “We’re still seeing a significant rise in cases,” Bond said. “In this county, we are in a surge . ... So it’s really critical for us to have something” that can effectively rein-in exposure and transmission of the virus “that’s also thoughtful,” she said.
A number of other Connecticut municipalities, including Stamford and Norwalk, already have implemented similar mandates, and have employed similar protocols, Bond said.
The governor’s executive order, which applies to school employees throughout the state, is set to expire Sept. 30, the date that the governor’s emergency powers also expire. But it could be extended, officials said.
Bond what that while the city still is categorized as having a high transmission rate, “we are not at 68 percent” of residents having received at least one dose of a vaccine — with 61 percent of city residents having received two doses.
“That’s incredible!” Bond said.
Fifty-eight city residents currently are hospitalized — about 30 percent of them being vaccinated people with “breakthrough” cases, she said.