The District on Tuesday joined Maryland and Virginia in requiring government workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
All D.C. government workers, contractors, interns and grantees will be required to get vaccinated and have until Sunday, Sept. 19 to become fully inoculated, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced at a briefing.
She said the city will have a process for those who want to apply for medical or religious exemptions. Those who are exempted will have to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.
So far, 21,746 out of about 36,700 city government workers have reported their vaccination status, according to a press release. Of those, about 19,900 employees, or 54% of the workforce, have reported being fully vaccinated.
D.C. Health Director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt said the city is seeing an increase in COVID-19 including among those aged 5 to 14 years old.
She said the majority of new infections are among people who are not inoculated, although there has been some increase in breakthrough cases in the last month.
“But the vaccine is indeed still working,” Dr. Nesbitt said, noting that about 90% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 are not vaccinated.
The vaccine requirement applies to employees who work for agencies that report to the mayor, which covers about 32,700 employees. However, D.C. officials are recommending that all independent agencies also implement the mandate.
As of Friday, more than 51,500 D.C. residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the latest health data shows. Nearly 65% of residents are at least partially vaccinated, while an estimated 55% are fully vaccinated.
Last week, the governors of Maryland and Virginia announced they will require state workers to show proof of vaccination or undergo regular coronavirus testing starting Sept. 1.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday the policy will apply to state employees who work in congregate facilities. Workers who don’t show proof of vaccination will face strict mask mandates and ongoing coronavirus testing, he said.
The new protocols will apply to 48 facilities across Maryland, including state health centers, juvenile and correctional services, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Although the policy applies to state workers, the governor also urged the more than 200 privately operated nursing homes in Maryland to mandate vaccines for their staff as well.
In Virginia, state workers who aren’t fully vaccinated will be tested for COVID-19 every week under the new policy, which will affect about 122,000 employees.
The policy applies to workers at executive branch agencies such as the Department of Motor Vehicles and Virginia Employment Commission and some staff at public colleges,
Gov. Ralph Northam’s spokeswoman, Alena Yarmosky, told The Associated Press. However, it will not apply to legislative or judicial branch employees or workers in K-12 schools.
Multiple hospitals in the region are mandating vaccines for health care staffers.
Meanwhile, numerous universities in the District, Virginia and Maryland are requiring the shots for students, staff or both.
The vaccine and testing mandates come amid concerns about the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus, which health officials say is responsible for rising new infections mostly among the unvaccinated.
Maryland has confirmed about 630 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours for a total of about 475,200 cases as of Tuesday, state health data shows.
Nearly 79% of adult residents are partially vaccinated while about 55% of the population are fully vaccinated, state health department data shows.
The Virginia Department of Health reported COVID-19 infections in more than 711,000 people, including more than 1,700 new cases, as of Tuesday.
Almost 73% of Virginia adults are partially vaccinated while nearly 55% of all residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
• Shen Wu Tan can be reached at stan@washingtontimes.com.
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