NW Democrat-Gazette

NYC shot edict covers all private employers

COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS

NEW YORK — From big Wall Street banks to corner grocery stores, all private employers in New York City will have to require their workers to get vaccinated against covid-19, the mayor announced Monday in the most sweeping vaccine mandate of any state or big city in the U.S.

Meanwhile, the total number of reported coronavirus cases in the United States marched toward 50 million Monday, with the nation’s death toll near 790,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The move by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio comes as cases are climbing again in the U. S. and the worrisome but little-understood omicron variant is gaining a toehold in the nation’s largest city and elsewhere around the country.

“We in New York City have decided to use a preemptive strike to really do something bold to stop the further growth of covid and the dangers it’s causing to all of us,” he said.

De Blasio, a Democrat with just weeks left in office, said the mandate will take effect Dec. 27, with in-person workers needing to provide proof they have received at least one dose of the vaccine — and they will not be allowed to get out of the requirement by agreeing to regular covid-19 testing instead.

The measure will apply to roughly 184,000 businesses not covered by previous vaccine mandates, ranging from multinational corporations to mom-and-pop businesses in the city of 8.8 million people, according to a spokesperson for the mayor. The city’s private-sector workforce is 3.7 million.

Also, anyone 12 or older who wants to dine in a restaurant, go to a gym or see a show will have to produce proof of having received two shots of the vaccine, up from the current requirement of one dose, the mayor said, while children 5 to 11 need proof of at least one shot.

De Blasio said the moves are aimed at staving off a spike of infections amid holiday gatherings and the cold weather, which drives more people indoors where the virus can spread more easily.

Phil Penta, who runs a specialty grocery store called Three Guys from Brooklyn, said the impending mandate could put him in a bind by forcing him to fire valued employees who are holding out against the vaccine.

“Everybody wants to do the right thing, but the right thing is different for everybody,” said Penta, who said the majority of his roughly three dozen employees have been vaccinated. Of the holdouts, “I respect the right to say they don’t want to take it.”

Vaccine rules across states and cities vary widely, with some states resisting any mandates and others requiring the shots for government employees or certain sectors that run a particularly high risk, such as health care workers.

But no state has announced a broad private-sector mandate like New York City’s, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy.

President Joe Biden sought to impose a less far-reaching mandate nationally, requiring employees of businesses with 100 or more workers to either get vaccinated or undergo regular testing. But federal courts have blocked that plan for now ahead of the Jan. 4 deadline.

De Blasio said he expects his mandate to survive any legal challenges. Employees will be able to ask for religious or medical exemptions.

Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, applauded the mandate and agreed that the city had broad legal authority over public health, but he said the mandate could be vulnerable in court because it is so far-reaching.

“This is a large new step that has never been tested in the courts,” he said.

The mayor said he will release details about how the mandate will be enforced next week.

VACCINATION RATE HIGH

About 5.9 million adults in New York City have gotten at least a first dose, out of 7 million people 18 and older. That translates to 84%. About 5.8 million New Yorkers of all ages are fully vaccinated.

Cases of the omicron variant have been reported in about one-third of the states, but scientists cannot say for certain yet whether it is more dangerous than previous versions.

U.S. health experts have strongly urged people to get shots and a booster, saying they believe the vaccine will offer protection against the new variant.

The delta variant still accounts for practically all infections in the U.S., and a rise in cases in recent weeks has swamped hospitals, especially in the Midwest and New England.

New York City is averaging just under 2,000 new cases per day, up from about 820 a day at the start of November.

“Vaccination is the central weapon in this war against covid. It’s the one thing that has worked every single time across the board,” de Blasio said in a virtual news conference.

“A lot of folks … in the private sector have said to me they believe in vaccination, but they’re not quite sure how they can do it themselves,” he said. “Well, we’re going to do it.”

Vaccinations are already required in New York City for hospital and nursing home workers and for city employees, including teachers, police officers and firefighters. A mandate for employees of private and religious schools was announced last week.

Some other private-sector employees, including those at restaurants, gyms, theaters and other entertainment sites, were also required to be vaccinated under city rules issued earlier.

De Blasio, who leaves office at the end of the month and has indicated he may seek the nomination for governor of New York next year, has sought to portray himself as a national leader in the fight against covid-19. His other vaccine mandates have largely survived legal challenges, and he has credited the policy with raising vaccination rates among the reluctant.

The new mandate takes effect days before de Blasio leaves office and Democrat Eric Adams is due to be sworn in. Evan Thies, a spokesman for Adams, said in a statement that the mayor- elect “will evaluate this mandate and other COVID strategies when he is in office and make determinations based on science, efficacy and the advice of health professionals.”

The Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, which includes some 30,000 businesses big and small, said it supports the tightened measures.

But other industry groups said the plan would add to the strain on businesses struggling to recover from the pandemic and find enough employees.

Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a leading business group, said it is unclear who will enforce the mandate and whether it is even legal.

“It is hard to imagine that the mayor can do what the president is being challenged to accomplish,” Wylde said.

“We were blindsided,” she added. “There’s no forewarning, no discussion, no idea about whether it’s legal or who he expects to enforce it.”

George DiGuido, owner of N.Y.C. Pet, a pet store with several locations in Brooklyn, said the mandate could hurt small businesses.

“If you have a small company of five or six employees, and let’s say two or three of them haven’t been vaccinated, you’re practically out of business,” he said. “Because to find a new employee is extremely hard.”

Raaid Alsaidi, assistant manager of Beacon Hardware on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, said all of his employees had chosen to get vaccinated, and that he expected most people who live in the city to already be vaccinated as well. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask,” he said.

U.S. COUNT CLIMBING

The U. S. case count neared 50 million even as New York City announced its new vaccine mandate, federal health authorities warned against travel to several European countries and more nations tightened restrictions on the unvaccinated.

The omicron variant, which is possibly more contagious than the widespread delta variant, had been found in 17 states as of Monday — just five days after the first case in the country emerged in California. That number reflected the potentially heightened transmissibility of the newest strain and an improved system for detecting it.

The latest turn in the 2- year- old pandemic also brought echoes of its early stages as authorities reported that at least 17 passengers and crew from a cruise ship that docked in New Orleans over the weekend had been infected with the virus that causes covid-19.

The infected people aboard the Norwegian Breakaway cruise ship, operated by Norwegian Cruise Lines, were described as “asymptomatic” and sent home to self- isolate. The ship set sail from the same location Nov. 28 with all 3,200 people aboard required to show proof of vaccination.

The development was similar to an episode during the pandemic’s early days, when hundreds of people came down with the virus aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in the port of Yokohama, Japan, and the vessel became a symbol of the difficult health and political decisions that would characterize the covid crisis.

Scientists are racing to learn and collect data about omicron, which was discovered not even two weeks ago.

But hopes that omicron, coupled with vaccination, might produce milder disease than delta were buoyed Monday when Peter McGinn, the first person with a confirmed case of the new strain in Minnesota, reported that the virus had barely affected him. McGinn and about 15 others appear to have picked up coronavirus when they traveled for a large anime convention in New York City the weekend of Nov. 19-21.

Members of the group flew in from a variety of U.S. locations and went out together for dinner, drinks and karaoke, leaving in doubt precisely where they were infected.

“I’m good to go,” said McGinn, a 30-year- old health care consultant from Minneapolis. He said he suffered mild symptoms and some fatigue over about two days and had just finished a quarantine.

McGinn credited his inoculation with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and his Moderna booster shot in early November for protecting him. U.S. health authorities have been urging everyone eligible to seek vaccination and a booster shot as soon as possible.

The convention, which drew 53,000 fans of the Japanese style of animation over three days, required that attendees have at least one shot.

Only after a friend tested positive did McGinn take a rapid test.

“I would recommend everyone, when they can, do get the booster,” he said. Four of the group who subsequently tested positive — people from Texas, Arizona, Connecticut and New Jersey — are coordinating with the Minnesota Department of Health to check whether they also have the omicron variant, McGinn said.

Few of the country’s new cases are likely to be caused by the omicron variant yet, but regardless of which strain is responsible, the overall trend here and abroad is alarming officials.

Federal health authorities warned Monday against travel to several European countries as well as Jordan and Tanzania, telling travelers to make sure they are fully vaccinated if they must visit. The CDC said to avoid travel to Andorra, Cyprus, France, Liechtenstein and Portugal.

“Because of the current situation in France, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants,” one advisory says.

The countries were the latest to be named in travel advisories. Last week, the CDC urged against travel to Niger, Papua New Guinea, Poland, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Worries that omicron could prove more transmissible and more resistant to vaccines have spurred a cascade of travel restrictions around the world. But many experts question the value of travel bans, and the World Health Organization has recommended against them.

CALL FOR RESEARCH

Meanwhile, one of the scientists behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is warning that the next pandemic may be more contagious and more lethal unless more money is devoted to research and preparations to fight emerging viral threats.

In excerpts released before a speech Monday, Professor Sarah Gilbert says the scientific advances made in fighting deadly viruses “must not be lost” because of the cost of fighting the current pandemic.

“This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods,” Gilbert says. “The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both.”

Gilbert urges governments to redouble their commitment to scientific research and pandemic preparedness, even once the threat of covid-19 wanes.

“We cannot allow a situation where we have gone through all we have gone through, and then find that the enormous economic losses we have sustained mean that there is still no funding for pandemic preparedness,” she said. “The advances we have made, and the knowledge we have gained, must not be lost.” Information for this article was contributed by Michelle L. Price, Bobby Caina Calvan, Karen Matthews and Danica Kirka of The Associated Press; by Lenny Bernstein, Frances Stead Sellers, Paulina Villegas, Rachel Pannett, Jacqueline Dupree and Emma G. Fitzsimmons of The Washington Post; and by Emma G. Fitzsimmons of The New York Times.

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2021-12-07T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-07T08:00:00.0000000Z

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