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NY will require state employees to get vaccinated or tested

New York will require all state employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus before Labor Day or to undergo weekly tests for COVID-19, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.

“It’s smart, it’s fair and it’s in everyone’s interest,” Cuomo said in a call with the Association for a Better New York, a nonprofit organization.

By ordering frequent vaccinations or testing for government workers, Cuomo is following in the footsteps of California and New York City, which announced similar policies for employees earlier this week. The governor called on local governments across New York to follow his example.

New York State will require all state employees to be vaccinated or tested regularly,” Cuomo later wrote in a post on social media.

“We are working with state unions to implement this program quickly and fairly. It will go into effect on Labor Day,” he added.

In New York, as in other states, the number of coronavirus cases related to the Delta variant has increased. New infections have increased by more than 400% since the end of June, and hospitalizations have skyrocketed by 68% in the last two weeks.

“What we’re seeing is a pandemic among unvaccinated people, but it affects everyone,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo said COVID-19 vaccines would be mandatory for “frontline” workers at state hospitals. Those employees could not prevent inoculations by submitting to weekly virus tests. The state operates hospitals in Syracuse and New York City and on Long Island.

New York State regulations already require hospital workers to be vaccinated against measles and rubella.

There are about 256,500 state employees, according to data from the New York State payroll system. It was unclear whether the mandate would cover employees outside of executive agencies, such as state court workers.

The Democrat said his administration had yet to speak with union officials about how to implement the policy.

Some unions representing government workers in New York City have opposed the “get vaccinated or tested” mandate, which will take effect in mid-September.

CSEA President Mary Sullivan, whose union represents New York state and local government workers, said she supports Cuomo’s vaccination policy: “(N) Either we can go back now or we will put our members at greater risk, to the workers, to our families, to the children and to all of us. “

This summer, the state’s public university system launched its own vaccination or testing policy for employees, according to SUNY spokesman Leo Rosales.

United University Professions president Fred Kowal said the additional mandate for some state hospital workers announced by Cuomo would have to be negotiated, “which I am willing to negotiate.”

Republicans criticized Cuomo’s announcement: State Senator George Borrello said that state workers who fought COVID-19 on the front lines “do not deserve to be intimidated into being vaccinated.”

Cuomo’s office did not immediately respond to questions about who will pay for testing for unvaccinated workers, possible penalties for unwilling workers and whether workers in state-run veterans’ homes should be vaccinated.

Cuomo urged school districts to consider vaccination or testing policies if the numbers continue to rise.

“A school can become a super broadcaster,” he said. “We have seen it many times in the past.”

This is a change from last fall, when Cuomo and other New York officials said that available data suggested schools were not driving the COVID-19 infection.

Although overall infection rates in New York remain much lower than during the winter, the voluntary vaccination campaign here has stalled, as it has in much of the United States.

About 56.7% of the 20 million residents are fully vaccinated.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that New York City will sweeten the situation by offering $ 100 to any city resident who receives a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine at a city-run facility.

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New York City and the state have already offered vaccination incentives, such as lottery tickets, scholarships, free subway rides, and free tickets to museums, sports games, and other attractions.

Other localities, such as the state of New Mexico and the city of Gadsden, Alabama, have also offered payments of $ 100 in cash. Others have offered a more limited version: Ohio offers $ 100 gift cards to Medicaid members who get vaccinated, and West Virginia offers $ 100 savings bonds to young people ages 16-35 who do.

President Joe Biden is studying the possibility of requiring federal employees to show proof of vaccination or be periodically tested and wear a mask. A growing number of hospitals and nursing homes across the US have imposed vaccinations on workers.

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