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County Workers Must Vaccinate or Test, By Jondi Gumz
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By Jondi Gumz
On Aug. 24, with the state seeing the fastest increase in COVID-19 cases due to the more contagious Delta variant and a state order for healthcare workers to vaccinate, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted to require COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing for county employees.
About 85 percent of the county’s budgeted 1,937 employees are vaccinated, and about 300 are deemed unvaccinated, according to County Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios.
“This is a significant statement by the Board on the importance of vaccinations to protect the health and safety of our community,” Board Chair Supervisor Bruce McPherson said. “Our employees have demonstrated leadership through their already high vaccination rates, and the Board encourages every community member to follow suit if they are able to obtain a vaccine.”
At the time of the vote, Santa Cruz County ranked 13th among California’s 58 health jurisdictions for vaccination, with 68.7 percent of eligible residents fully vaccinated and 77.7 percent with at least one dose.
The vote gave employees 30 days to comply with the mandate or submit to weekly testing.
Employees who do not comply will face leave without pay or termination.
An employee who refuses to vaccinate or test weekly “will be deemed to have subjected co-workers to unnecessary safety risks,” according to the staff report from the County Administrative Office. “Appropriate action may include a leave without pay for non-compliance or termination based on the circumstances. Simply allowing the employee to continue working would not be an acceptable option.”
Due process in the form of a Skelly hearing is required for permanent employees who have a constitutionally protected interest in their job.
Palacios did not have an estimate of the cost to carry out this mandate.
Potentially the state could provide testing kits for free. If not, the cost of the kits is estimated at $40 or more, with the cost of testing administrators estimated at $70 to $100 per hour.
County government is the second largest employer in Santa Cruz County; UC Santa Cruz is the largest.
As of Sept. 1, Santa Cruz County has vaccinated 68.7 percent of the population with at least one shot, and 61 percent are fully vaccinated.
Cases Slow Down
Three deaths were recorded in August, bringing the number of fatalities in the county to 210. All three who died in August were unvaccinated and had underlying conditions.
The number of COVID cases dropped from 923 to 871, according to the county dashboard, which is updated on Monday and Thursdays. New cases are mostly in north Santa Cruz County.
The 14-day change, a metric that is updated on Wednesdays, showed cases down 1 percent — a big change from increasing 64 percent, and then 23 percent earlier in the month.
The number of hospitalizations, which had been as low as 12, rose to 21, with five people in intensive care, and 3 ICU beds available.
Full Approval
On Aug. 23, federal regulators granted full approval to the two-dose PfizerBioNTech vaccine, which means the fact sheet people get will no longer describe the vaccine as experimental.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had granted the Pfizer vaccine emergency use authorization in December after a clinical trial of 44,000 people 16 and older were followed for a median of two months after their second shot. Half got the shot, and half got a placebo, the FDA said, with the vaccine 91 percent effective.
To get full approval, Pfizer followed 12,000 people for at least six months, the FDA said, and more studies will be required to assess the risk of heart damage as higher risk was observed for males under age 40, with the highest risk for those age 12 to 17.
The Pfizer vaccine will now be marketed as “Comirnaty.”
FDA Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock, in announcing the approval, said, “We recognize for some, the FDA approval may now instill additional confidence to get vaccinated.”
More Testing
To help meet demands for free COVID-19 testing, Santa Cruz County Public Health and OptumServe has added a third testing lane at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, bringing daily testing capacity to 594.
