California State Workers, NYC Workers Will Be Required to Get Vaccine or Undergo Testing

Both the state of California and the city of New York announced that Cali state and New York municipal employees will soon be required to either get vaccinated or undergo COVID-19 testing once or twice a week.

Both announcements came Monday, as California said state employees and health care workers must abide by either getting vaccinated or tested twice a week, with proof of vaccination then needed to be submitted by Aug. 2 for state employees and Aug. 23 for health care workers. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city’s requirements in a press conference, sharing that the “entire city workforce” will be mandated to either get their vaccine or undergo weekly testing starting Sept. 13.

“September is the pivot point of the recovery,” de Blasio said. “September is when many employers are bringing back a lot of their employees. September is when school starts, full strength. September is when people come back from the summer. September is when it all will happen. So on Sept. 13, which is the first full day of school, every single city employee will be expected to be either vaccinated or tested weekly. This means everybody.”

de Blasio said the city is “leading by example,” due to the increasingly spreading Delta variant, with roughly 340,000 city workers falling under the requirement, according to NPR.

In Cali, the vaccine-verification program is set to begin as early as next week.