NEWS
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, pictured at a press conference in April, announced July 26 that state employees and healthcare workers must be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing and wear masks while at work. Anne Wernikoff/CalMatters
Newsom Implements New Testing, Vaccine Mandate New Rule will effect thousands on North Coast, but full impact unclear By Ana B. Ibarra/CalMatters newsroom@northcoastjournal.com
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mid an uptick in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced July 26 that health care workers and state employees must be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing and wear masks. Employees of hospitals, nursing homes, dentists’ and doctors’ offices and other health care settings will have to comply with the requirements by Aug. 23. In addition, all employees of state agencies will be subjected to a verification process that will be mostly in place by Aug. 2, according to state officials. Exactly what the new policy means for vaccination efforts in Humboldt County — where about 55 percent of the
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NORTH COAST JOURNAL • Thursday, July 29, 2021 • northcoastjournal.com
population is vaccinated and thousands of residents are employed by the state and local healthcare providers — remains unclear. Tory Starr, executive officer of Open Door Community Health Centers, Humboldt County’s largest healthcare provider, said in an email to the Journal that 87 percent of staff is already vaccinated and vaccination is required for all new hires. “We recognize that the best preventative measure to ensure patient and staff safety is to be vaccinated,” Starr wrote. “At some point in the near future we will require staff to be vaccinated as a condition of employment unless a valid health or religious exemption exists.” Attempts to reach St. Joseph Health,
Humboldt County’s second largest provider, for comment were not successful by deadline. Short of a vaccination mandate, the new policy comes as the Delta variant has become the dominant strain in California — approximately 80 percent of the COVID-19 cases sequenced were of the Delta type, according to the state. Experts say the Delta variant is highly contagious and poses a serious threat to unvaccinated people. More than 3,000 people infected with COVID-19 were hospitalized in California — including 16 in Humboldt County — as of July 27, which is comparable to late October 2020, before the vaccine was Continued on page 8 »
