Tuesday, August 17, 2021 12:08 pm

Inslee requiring vaccination

for most state employees,

health and long-term care workers

Gov. Jay Inslee issued an emergency proclamation mandating that most state executive branch employees and on-site contractors and volunteers, along with public and private health care and long-term care workers, must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 18.

Inslee announced the proclamation at a press conference in Seattle Monday afternoon. The announcement comes as Washington is experiencing a severe increase in COVID cases and hospitalizations in every county, due to the Delta variant, with the overwhelming majority of cases and hospitalizations being among unvaccinated Washingtonians. Individuals included in the proclamation's mandate must receive the final dose of their vaccination no later than October 4, so as to be fully vaccinated two weeks later on October 18 to comply with the proclamation.

Exemptions from the vaccine requirement are allowed for those individuals who are entitled to a disability-related reasonable accommodation or a sincerely held religious belief accommodation.

"Getting vaccinated against COVID is a public good. We have come so close to defeating this deadly disease," Inslee said at the press conference. "We have the tool -- the vaccine -- to get this era behind us. It is safe, it is effective, and you will never regret getting it."

This requirement is for most state workers, and on-site contractors and volunteers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. State employees and workers in private health care and long-term care settings will have until October 18 to be fully vaccinated.

The requirement applies to state workers, regardless of teleworking status. This applies to executive cabinet agencies, but the governor encouraged all others such as higher education, local governments, the legislative branch, other statewide elected officials and organizations in the private sector to do the same.

COVID on Rise Nationally

Through Saturday, the U.S. had more than 36.6 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 621,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals include more than 206.5 million cases and 4.3 million deaths. More than 167.6 million Americans -- 50.5 percent of the population -- have been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

Since July 1, there's been a 700 percent increase in the 7-day rolling average of COVID-19 infections in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.