PROVIDENCE – With the recent approval of a COVID-19 vaccination by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Rhode Island Gov. Daniel J. McKee is calling on businesses to make sure their customers have got the shot before serving them.
McKee said he was impressed by the recent Newport Jazz Festival and Newport Folk Festival events, which required staff, volunteers, musicians and concertgoers to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test.
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And the state’s top public health official, Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, applauded nine Rhode Island theater organizations, including Trinity Rep, Providence Performing Arts Center, and the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, for implementing vaccine and testing policies, as well mask-wearing requirements.
“I hope other businesses and organizations will consider taking similar measures as the weather turns colder and we head inside more often,” said McKee, speaking out at his weekly COVID-19 update held on Thursday at the Green Line Apothecary pharmacy.
Alexander-Scott said the state wants businesses to take action in four critical areas, including requiring indoor masking, requiring vaccination (of employees, but also customers, she added), COVID-19 testing and improving ventilation.
“At the state level we were extremely happy and excited to see these organizations take those critical steps,” Alexander-Scott said. “And at the consumer level you should be happy and relieved to know these are safer places for you to go with your family.”
Alexander-Scott said taking measures will help businesses with their bottom line in the long run.
“Helping to ensure employee and customer safety also helps to improve customer confidence, so our businesses can continue to thrive and stay open,” Alexander-Scott said.
The decision by those nine theater organizations to implement a vaccination requirement sets a good example for others, Alexander-Scott said.
“These are places you can feel comfortable because you know there’s a focus on indoor masking, vaccination, testing and ventilation,” Alexander-Scott said. We want to continue to support more businesses and entities to follow in those footsteps.”
And while McKee previously announced a mandate for all employees of state-licensed health care facilities in the state to get vaccinated by October, this time the Rhode Island governor addressed a related problem: staffing. McKee said he’s signing an executive order to allow retired health care professionals to re-enter the workforce without forfeiting their pensions, addressing a labor shortage that hospitals and nursing homes have been struggling with this year.
This comes as nursing home industry representatives said recently that a mandate could exacerbate the labor issue, as vaccine resisters may drop their jobs for those without such requirements, leaving health care facilities short-staffed.
“Our health care system is experiencing challenges with retention and hiring,” McKee said. “This is something that’s being felt with many industries.”
McKee was also asked about a group of nurses who have been protesting the vaccine mandate, and whether he’s willing to let part of the experienced workforce walk away from the industry.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” McKee said, predicting compliance among employees like the state got from school staff with the statewide mask mandate.
McKee said the state plans to personally address each of the 270 employees of the state-run Eleanor Slater Hospital who are yet to be vaccinated.
“We’re going to speak to every one of them, and show the personal tension and the need to have them vaccinated, to keep the people that they care for safe,” McKee said.
McKee said he still has not forged a deal with state workers and their labor unions to require them to be vaccinated.
“We’re still in discussions,” the governor said. “But we’ve got to work through labor leaders and get it right. Those discussions continue today. They haven’t stopped.”
Also, during the press conference, McKee said the state is preparing to establish field hospitals in the case of a potential spike in COVID-19 cases, with colder weather in the coming months and the recent spread of the delta variant.
“They’ll be ready if we need them,” the governor said.
McKee thanked those who have already gotten vaccinated, making Rhode Island rank as the fifth highest rate of COVID-19 vaccination among all the states in the country, with 75% of adults fully vaccinated.
But McKee said he wants to reach a 90% vaccination rate and there are still 170,000 eligible people in Rhode Island who have yet to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
“That’s not enough,” McKee said. “We need every single eligible Rhode Islander to get vaccinated to keep our families safe.”
McKee said he held his weekly COVID-19 update at the Green Line Apothecary, a pharmacy located at 905 N. Main St. with a retro vibe and a vintage soda fountain, to demonstrate the importance of local pharmacies in the battle to get more Rhode Islanders vaccinated, especially now since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced full approval for the Pfizer vaccine.
“So, talk to your friends and family. Remind them of the FDA approval,” McKee said. “And go with them to get vaccinated. Come down here and get an ice cream with them.”
Updates throughout with more details from the governor’s press conference.
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com.
