Juan Pablo Elverdin
(CNN) – With more states and health systems moving toward mandatory inoculation for certain workers, officials hope the job incentive will remove doubts about vaccines, while a governor is organizing contingency scenarios.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont has instructed the National Guard to prepare for activation in the event of a personnel shortage when the vaccination mandate and testing requirement go into effect late Monday, according to said. State employees must provide proof of vaccination or submit to weekly testing requirements before the deadline, and those who do not comply will be placed on unpaid leave.
As of Thursday, more than 63% (20,000 employees) were fully vaccinated, while 12% of employees have started to undergo weekly tests, Lamont said. There are more than 8,000 employees who do not comply with the regulations, although about 2,000 have updated their situation in the last two days.
“We have provided most state employees the option of weekly testing rather than vaccinations, which provides more flexibility than our neighboring states. We have also provided our employees with a grace period for compliance. There is no reason for all of our employees not to comply, ”Lamont said.
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Connecticut is just one of several states facing opposition to mandatory vaccinations for critical workers, a move that has been highlighted by health experts as necessary to protect those most at risk of contracting COVID-19. 19, but has met with strong resistance from a minority who wish to continue without being vaccinated and in their current functions.
In Rhode Island, the health department announced in August that “all employees, fellows and volunteers at RIDOH licensed health centers” would have to receive their first dose of the covid-19 vaccine before this Friday.
Care New England, one of the state’s largest hospital systems, reported Thursday that more than 95% of its healthcare staff have been vaccinated. Vaccination of staff “keeps increasing by the day and by the hour,” according to the system’s general manager, James E. Fanale.
The deadline has already passed in other states. California’s two million health workers were expected to get vaccinated before Thursday or risk losing their jobs, with exemptions available for religious beliefs or medical reasons.
Many of the hospitals CNN surveyed had high vaccination rates among their employees, averaging over 90% in some of the state’s largest healthcare systems.
In New York, none of the health centers closed as a result of vaccination mandates for workers, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday. Earlier this week, it was reported that 92% of nursing home staff, 89% of adult care center staff, and 92% of hospital staff have received at least one dose at all the state.
“You will see that number increasing rapidly, because what we are finding is that as more people are discharged or suspended, that number is going to increase,” Hochul said.
Some hospitals in the area have reported suspending their employees without pay or temporarily halting elective procedures for inpatients due to shortages.
Vaccines for 5- to 11-year-olds may be available soon, but survey reveals questions remain
As the delta variant continues to spread, healthcare workers aren’t the only ones facing everyday risks at work. The resumption of face-to-face teaching in schools has already been complicated by the Covid-19 outbreaks and the quarantine of exposed students and staff.
However, despite the evidence that vaccines are reducing COVID-19 infections and severity among eligible age groups, there are still concerns among parents and guardians about inoculating children ages 5 to 11, according to a new survey.
Only about a third of parents of children ages 5 to 11 say they will vaccinate their children as soon as a vaccine is available for that age group, according to results from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Vaccine Monitor released Thursday. A similar percentage, 32%, say they will wait to see how the vaccine works, and 24% say they will definitely not vaccinate their children 5 to 11 years old.
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According to the report, 58% of parents said K-12 schools should require masks at school for all students and staff, 4% said they should be required only for unvaccinated students and staff, and 35% said there should be no mask requirements.
There is a divide between vaccinated and unvaccinated parents, according to the KFF, with 73% of vaccinated parents saying schools should require masks for all students and 63% of unvaccinated parents saying there should be no requirements. of masks.
Most of the interviews, conducted between September 13 and 22 from a sample of more than 1,500 adults, were conducted before Pfizer announced that clinical trials showed that its covid-19 vaccine was safe and generated a immune response in this age group.
The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine is approved for individuals 16 years of age and older and has an emergency use authorization for individuals 12-15 years of age. On Tuesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they had submitted data on children ages 5 to 11 to the FDA for initial review, but had not yet applied for emergency use authorization.
Pfizer Submits Initial Covid-19 Vaccine Data for Children Ages 5-11 to FDA, But Has Not yet Request Authorization for Emergency Use
An emergency use authorization request for the vaccine is expected to be formally submitted in the coming weeks, the companies said in a statement.
The latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that nearly 200 million American adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Almost 67% of American adults are fully vaccinated.
Death rates in non-metropolitan areas are higher, study finds
Meanwhile, researchers are analyzing the effects of the pandemic in different parts of the country. According to an analysis of Johns Hopkins University data by the University of Iowa Center for Health Policy Analysis, deaths from COVID-19 in non-metropolitan areas are now more than double those in metropolitan areas.
After analyzing data on average death rates from covid-19 at the county level, it was determined that in the two weeks ending September 15, 2021, non-metropolitan areas had an average of 0.85 deaths from covid- 19 per 100,000 residents. Metropolitan areas, meanwhile, had an average of half: 0.41 deaths per 100,000 residents.
Deaths in non-metropolitan areas have consistently outpaced those in metropolitan areas since the study began in April 2020, and the Sept. 15 figures are the fourth time overall that the non-metropolitan death rate has been at least twice the metropolitan death rate. However, the non-metropolitan rate had not been twice that of metropolitan areas since December 1, 2020.
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The researchers used the United States Department of Agriculture methodology to differentiate between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. Counties were recorded as metropolitan if they had an urban area with 50,000 or more people or were an outlying county with strong economic ties to an urban center. All other counties in the study were coded as non-metropolitan.
CNN’s Virginia Langmaid, Naomi Thomas, Melanie Schuman, Augie Martin, Rosalina Nieves, Lauren Mascarenhas, Elizabeth Joseph, Melissa Alonso, Jamie Gumbrecht, and Ben Tinker contributed to this report.
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