NYC Mayor De Blasio Requires COVID Vaccination Or Weekly Testing For All City Staff

All of New York City’s government employees will be mandated to either get COVID-19 vaccine or provide weekly testing starting on Sept. 13, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday.

“This is about our recovery. This is about what we need to do to bring back New York City. This is about keeping people safe. This is about making sure our families get through COVID ok. This is about bringing back jobs. You name it,” de Blasio said in his morning press conference.

The Mayor emphasized during the conference that September will be the “pivot point” of the city’s recovery from the pandemic.

He pointed to how employers will soon begin asking employees to return to offices, people will be returning from summer vacations and the school year will begin in “full strength.”

“And so, on Sept. 13, which is the first full day of school, every single city employee will be expected to be either vaccinated or be tested weekly. This means everybody,” de Blasio said, saying that all school employees, the NYPD, the FDNY and all the other city departments will have to follow the new rules.

De Blasio has also announced that starting on Monday, unvaccinated city employees who do not wear masks while working will receive a penalty.

“So we’re going to keep climbing this ladder and adding additional measures as needed — mandates and strong measures — whenever needed to fight the delta variant,” de Blasio said. “No. 1 way to fight it is get vaccinated, we’re proving it. This is the reason life is as good as it is in New York City right now because we’re above the national average in vaccinations, but we need to do more.”

Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-California) announced a similar policy on Monday, requiring state employees and health care workers to provide either proof of vaccination or regular test results.

“[California] will have the strongest state vaccine verification system in the US and will require state employees & healthcare workers to provide proof of vaccination—or get tested regularly,” Newsom tweeted. “We’re experiencing a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Everyone that can get vaccinated—should.”

Article by Dongyoon Shin