SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) --- To stymie the explosion of the delta variant in the nation’s most populous state, California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday announced state and health care workers must verify their vaccination status or undergo routine Covid-19 testing to keep their jobs.
The Newsom administration said the directive is intended to convince holdouts among the over 246,000 state employees to quickly get the shot and “ensure continuity of the government is protected” amid the latest wave of the pandemic. Vaccinated employees will be required to produce their vaccination cards by Aug. 2. Unvaccinated employees must continue to wear masks indoors and submit to weekly testing.
Newsom announced the move on Twitter on Monday, ahead of a scheduled press conference.
“CA will have the strongest state vaccine verification system in the US and will require state employees & health care workers to provide proof of vaccination — or get tested regularly," he tweeted. "We’re experiencing a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Everyone that can get vaccinated — should."
In addition, both public and private health care workers will also be required to verify their vaccination status by Aug. 23 or submit to more rigorous testing and safety protocols.
Officials from the Health and Human Services Agency and Government Operations Agency said the decision to move from a self-attesting scheme to a stricter vaccination verification system was spurred by the recent spike in Covid-19 hospitalizations.
Nearly 3,000 people are currently hospitalized due to Covid 19, up from 900 on May 15. Over the last week, California saw an average of 6,400 new cases per day, with 80% attributed to the delta variant. In addition, the state claims the case rate among unvaccinated residents is seven times greater than those vaccinated.
“The delta variant doesn’t necessarily make you more sick…but it is certainly much more contagious,” said a Newsom official on condition of anonymity. “Vaccines are the road through this.”
State agencies are currently deploying a self-attestation or “honor” system for employees, but Newsom said the new verification mandate will quickly be codified into employment contracts. He added it will be up to the health care industry to enforce its system and complimented providers for voluntarily joining Monday’s directive.
During a press conference in Oakland, Newsom cast the system as “the nation’s first" and said he hopes other industries will follow suit and require workers to show proof of vaccination. He then blamed the “right-wing echo chamber” for spreading misinformation about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and for stopping the nation’s progress toward herd immunity.
“We’re exhausted, respectively, by the ideological prism that too many Americans are living under,” Newsom said. “We’re exhausted by the Ron Johnsons and the Tucker Carlsons; we’re exhausted by the Marjorie Taylor Greenes.”
Under the order, health care facilities --- including jails and other high-risk congregate settings --- will have until Aug. 23 to come into full compliance.
In a similar move to Newsom's, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday the city’s 340,000 employees must get the shot by mid-September or submit to weekly Covid-19 testing. The mayor said the action was intended to spur private industries to adopt similar verification requirements.
As for the federal level, the Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday became the first agency to issue a vaccination requirement. The department’s health care workers will be required to get the vaccine over the next eight weeks.
Experts believe the vaccines are highly effective against the delta variant and while over 75% of California’s eligible population has received at least one dose, state officials are worried about the millions yet to be inoculated.
Newsom capped the press conference by calling out the holdouts for extending the pandemic and adding strain on the overworked health care system.
“It’s a choice to live with this virus and with all due respect, you don’t have the choice to go out and drink and drive and put everybody else’s lives at risk,” Newsom said. “That’s the equivalent of this moment with the deadliness and efficiency of the delta virus.”
While Newsom has said repeatedly in recent weeks that a statewide mask mandate isn’t necessary, some major counties are forging ahead with stricter Covid-19 protocols.
Both Los Angeles and San Mateo counties require all people regardless of vaccination status to don face coverings indoors. The mandates are similar to the statewide order Newsom lifted last month.
“The increasing case numbers are a harsh reminder that we are not done with Covid and Covid is not done with us. Let’s all continue to do our part by getting vaccinated and taking common-sense precautions so we can keep all of us safe,” said San Mateo County Manager Mike Callagy of the county’s mandate, which took effect Monday.
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