City schools: About 175 staff opt for weekly testing
STAMFORD — Unvaccinated Stamford school employees have until the end of day Friday to submit a COVID-19 testing result to the district.
What happens to those who don’t is still unclear.
According to Stamford Public Schools Human Resources Director Chris Soules, only about 175 out of roughly 2,000 full-time Stamford Public Schools employees have indicated a desire for weekly testing. Assuming those are the only unvaccinated employees, that means roughly 91 percent of the district’s workforce is vaccinated against COVID-19.
Soules said any violation of Gov. Ned Lamont’s executive order — which calls for school staff across the state to be vaccinated by Sept. 27, or undergo weekly testing — would be investigated “as a disciplinary matter.”
When asked if employees would be placed or leave or terminated if they do not comply with the order, Soules said the district “is finalizing
the process to ensure compliance with the executive order.”
Soules said a priority testing site has been set up for teachers at the Hillandale Avenue parking lot behind Stamford High School. The site is operated by Stamford healthcare company SEMA4 and offers the nasal swab PCR test at no cost to SPS employees.
But teachers can get tested at other locations, Soules said, as long as the test is administered by a state-licensed clinical laboratory, pharmacybased testing provider, or other healthcare provider that has a current Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, or CLIA, waiver.
This week, Stamford Government Center officials said 80 percent of its full-time employees reported full immunization against COVID-19.
About 240 of the roughly 1,202 people employed full-time by the city government have decided to undergo weekly coronavirus testing, according to Director of Human Resources Al Cava.
Mayor David Martin’s Aug. 6 executive order states employees who refuse to get vaccinated or partake in the testing requirement would be disciplined “up to and including termination,” and new hires could have their job offers rescinded.
The number of full-time municipal employees fully vaccinated far exceeds the number of fully vaccinated people citywide. Data released by the Connecticut Department of Health on Sept. 22 showed that 69 percent of Stamford residents were fully protected against COVID-19, while just over 77 percent of the population has gotten at least one dose of a vaccine.