PROVIDENCE – As cases of the delta variant of COVID-19 continue to rise across the country, Gov. Daniel J. McKee announced a new mandate on Tuesday for all health care companies in the state to soon require their employees get vaccinated against the virus as a term of employment.
The state policy will take effect on Oct. 1, said McKee, speaking during a COVID-19 update held at the capitol.
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McKee also announced that he has no plans for a renewed mask mandate in Rhode Island, after the original mask requirement ended in mid-May after vaccines became widely available.
Currently, about 3 out of 10 employees at health care facilities in Rhode Island are not vaccinated for COVID-19, according to the R.I. Department of Health. McKee said now more than 80 percent of people across the state who are eligible to get vaccinated have received at least one shot.
Daily case counts in the state have been steadily rising in recent weeks. As of Monday, there had been 142 new cases per 100,000 Rhode Islanders in the previous seven days, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define as “high transmission.”
In total, there have been 655,034 individuals fully vaccinated in the state to date, as well as 1.34 million total COVID-19 doses administered.
McKee’s mandate announcement comes after the state’s two major hospital systems, Lifespan Corp. and Care New England Health System, voluntarily announced plans to adopt employee vaccine mandates in September.
Nursing homes throughout the state, for the most part, had no plans for employee vaccine mandates prior to McKee’s announcement, said Jim Nyberg, executive director of Leading Age RI, a nonprofit advocacy group that represents more than 40 nursing homes, assisted living centers and other long term care facilities in the Ocean State. Nyberg said a very competitive labor market caused many nursing home companies to forgo a mandate, eliminating a potential snag for recruiting and retaining hourly workers.
“At least this establishes a level playing field across the whole health care industry,” Nyberg said.
When announcing the new state mandate, McKee applauded nurses, doctors and other health care employees for their efforts to save lives and tend to the sick during the heights of the pandemic.
“I want to thank the Rhode Island health care workers for their heroic efforts throughout the pandemic,” McKee said. “We want to ensure you’re safe and protected at work. That’s why all health care workers at state-licensed health care facilities, as defined in statute, will be required to get vaccinated by Oct. 1, 2021.”
McKee said the state mandate applies to both public and private facilities. McKee said the mandate allows for exemptions for individuals with legitimate medical reasons not to get the vaccine.
“Rhode Island’s vaccination efforts are going strong and we continue to be in the top five in the country for vaccinations,” McKee said. “We know that in order to stay ahead of the delta variant and keep Rhode Islanders out of the hospital, we must keep that going.”
McKee also spoke about the need for Rhode Island school districts to make sure they have a policy requiring all students and faculty to wear masks to protect from disruptive and dangerous COVID-19 outbreaks in the classroom. McKee said the state is now working to pair every school district with a community-based vaccine clinic, to make shots available for eligible 12 years and older.
“We have to use all tools available to keep them safe and prevent a classroom learning disruption,” McKee said. “We don’t need to have students be in quarantine because of an infection in the school. They need to be in the classroom. … They can’t afford to lose more time [like they did the previous year when classrooms were closed due to the pandemic]. We don’t need to repeat that. So we are going to use those remedies to make sure our students are in the classrooms.”
McKee stopped short of mandating public schools in Rhode Island from enforcing a mask policy for students, even as some parent groups are putting pressure on school district to forgo masks.
“I would expect the school districts to follow CDC guidance,” McKee said.
McKee said he is against mandating vaccines among public school teachers in Rhode Island. Although, McKee said he was open to the idea, but wanted to hear from the president of the American Federation of Teachers.
“The teachers have already stepped up and got vaccinated,” said McKee, citing a 90% vaccination rate among Rhode Island teachers and school employees. “Now we want the student population to follow the teacher’s lead.”
McKee and R.I. Department of Health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott urged people to continue using masks as another tool to prevent infection, including among the vaccinated who could suffer a breakthrough infection as a result of the delta variant, and parents with vulnerable young children who are not eligible for vaccination. At the same time, McKee said there isn’t a need for a renewed mask mandate.
“Why not use one of the additional tools we have to help protect yourself and your loved ones,” Alexander-Scott said. “People who are vaccinated have the option to still wear a mask indoors at public places. That’s important to know. This is something I’m doing now given our community transmission rates have risen so significantly.
“This is a personal choice that I am making for my health and the health of my family, including my son, who is too young to be vaccinated,” she added. “It is our responsibility to encourage that for all of you.”
(ADDS paragraphs 8-9 with Nyberg comment.)
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. You may reach him at Larocque@PBN.com.
