Vaxx card required for state workers
California has become the first state to require all state employees and health care workers to show proof of COVID19 vaccination or get tested weekly, as the highly infectious delta variant drives new coronavirus infections steeply upward.
Under the new guidance Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday in Oakland, state workers must either show proof of vaccination or undergo regular testing and wear a mask indoors.
“Too many people have chosen to live with this virus,” Newsom said. “We’re at a point in this pandemic where an individual’s choice not to get vaccinated is now impacting the rest of us in a profound and devastating and deadly way.”
Previously, state workers and public and private health care employees could “selfattest” to their vaccination status.
California plans to implement the new health order on Aug. 9, with full compliance expected by Aug. 21.
Newsom said 246,000 Californians are state employees, and added, “246,000 Californians should be vaccinated.”
Those who can’t verify that they are vaccinated will be required to be tested weekly, he said.
The state will also partner with health care providers to apply the same rules to the 2 million health care workers in California’s public and private sectors.
In health care settings, coronavirus testing will be required twice a week for individuals who fail to show proof that they are vaccinated. That includes acute care and skilled nursing centers.
Those who are not vaccinated in health care settings additionally must wear an N95 respirator mask at work.
“California is committed to vaccination, verification and/or testing on a weekly basis,” Newsom said. “We’re not stopping just with state employees.”
He said vaccination verification will also be required in jails and homeless shelters.
Newsom pointedly blamed rightwing pundits and members of Congress for spreading misinformation about vaccines.
“We are exhausted by the idealogical prism that too many Americans are living under,” Newsom said. “We are exhausted by the Ron Johnsons, Tucker Carlsons; we’re exhausted by the Marjorie Taylor Greenes. We’re exhausted by the rightwing echo chamber that has been perpetuating misinformation around the vaccine and its efficacy and safety.”
“We are exhausted by the politicization of this pandemic, and that includes maskwearing that has been equated to the Holocaust. It’s disgraceful. It’s unconscionable.”
He accused those he mentioned of profiteering off misinformation while having received vaccinations themselves, and of “putting innocent peoples’ lives at risk” from the highly transmissible delta variant, as well as hurting businesses and kids’ ability to learn in classrooms.
The delta variant, thought to be up to twice as infectious as the original coronavirus strain, now makes up about 80% of all cases that undergo genomic sequencing in the state, Newsom said.
California has seen an alarming uptick in cases since reopening its economy on June 15, when the state dropped most of its pandemicrelated restrictions.
Over the weekend, the state saw an average of about 7,500 cases reported per day; the sevenday average is now above 6,400 cases per day, state officials reported. That equates to 9.6 cases per 100,000 people, compared to May 15 when the state was at 1.9 cases per 100,000.
But those who are unvaccinated are testing positive at a much higher rate than people who have received the shots.
“We are sincere in our belief and desire that we need to step things up at this point of the pandemic,” Newsom said. “Our projections are sobering.”
The new policy stops short of a mandate as Newsom faces a September recall election significantly focused on his handling of the pandemic, and effectively kicks the ball back to local governments and the business sector, where state officials said employers can apply their own vaccination mandates should they wish to do so.
Newsom noted that some business groups are requiring verification of vaccination, and he cited the Bay Area where many bars require vaccination for entry.
“We encourage that in the private sector across the spectrum,” the Democratic governor said.
New York City also announced Monday that it will require all of its municipal workers — including teachers and police officers — to get vaccines by midSeptember or face weekly testing. And the Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday became the first major federal agency to require health care workers to get COVID19 vaccines.
Los Angeles County — the nation’s largest county — is requiring or urging residents again to wear masks indoors, and some Bay Area counties previously imposed COVID19 vaccination requirements for workers. San Francisco requires those in health care and congregate settings to get shots, and is requiring all its city employees to do so once the current COVID emergencyuse vaccines get full federal approval.
Newsom has hesitated to impose new requirements for maskwearing or social distancing despite the surge.
On the highly charged issue of pandemic rules for California schools, Newsom punted Monday when asked about whether teachers, who are not state employees, should face vaccination verification requirements.
He focused on encouraging school employees to get vaccinated.
“We’ll continue to work with our districts and encourage more vaccination uptake,” he said.
State officials plan to reopen schools in the fall even though children under 12 are not yet eligible for vaccination, and reports of COVID19 outbreaks at summer camps across the U.S.
“We want our kids back full time for inperson instruction,” Newsom said.