Where Stanislaus County and its cities stand on requiring COVID-19 vaccines for staff
Unlike the state of California, as of Wednesday no Stanislaus County city or the county has announced plans to require COVID-19 vaccinations for its employees.
The Bee asked six cities and the county if they plan to mandate vaccines after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approves the vaccines outside of current emergency authorization, but most said they have not decided. (The Bee contacted the six largest among Stanislaus County’s nine cities for this story.)
As of Monday, 46.2% of Modesto’s full- and part-time employees were fully vaccinated, according to an email from Deputy City Manager Caluha Barnes.
“The city has not mandated but highly encourages all employees to be vaccinated,” Barnes said in the email. “Early in the vaccination roll out, we surveyed employees in an effort to facilitate vaccinations. We continue our efforts in educating our employees on the benefits of vaccination and encouraging them to get vaccinated.”
Barnes said employees who are not fully vaccinated are required to wear face masks. She said the city does not track how many of its employees are partially vaccinated. Modesto has a little fewer than 1,200 full-time employees.
About 52% of Turlock’s employees and volunteers have reported getting vaccinated, human resource analyst Jessie Dhami said. But Dhami declined to answer whether Turlock intends to require staff vaccinations or frequent COVID-19 testing.
“It is premature to address this question,” Dhami said in an email. “City staff monitors the status of vaccine approvals, the ever-changing public health guidance, and the many legal issues involved and responds accordingly.”
With an increase in Delta variant cases, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration on Monday announced California state workers and health care employees must show proof of vaccination or get tested at least once a week.
No vaccination mandate for county
Cities including San Francisco and Pasadena have also announced employee vaccine mandates in order to reduce the spread and limit COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. The vaccines are safe and effective at preventing COVID-19, especially severe illness and death, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Jody Hayes, chief executive officer of the county, said the county needs to review the state policy announced Monday to determine if county workers are affected. Stanislaus County has no vaccine requirement for employees, including those who have regular contact with people or the general public, such as jail staff or library employees.
All 4,500-plus county employees are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but Hayes said the county has not kept track of how many are vaccinated. The county CEO didn’t know if full FDA approval of COVID vaccines would lead to a requirement for county employees to be vaccinated.
In Stanislaus County, 58% of residents age 12 and older were fully or partially vaccinated as of Monday, according to the county’s coronavirus dashboard. The percentage of people who need to be vaccinated before population immunity can be reached is not yet known, per the CDC.
COVID-19 cases are again spiking in the county. Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, the county’s public health officer, told the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that under the state’s previous pandemic tier system, the county would now be in the purple or worst tier.
Ceres didn’t provide vaccine rate
Patterson may consider requiring employee vaccinations once the FDA fully approves the vaccines, City Manager Ken Irwin said. Of 146 full and part-time staff, Irwin said 38% have been vaccinated.
“If the City decides not to require employees to be vaccinated after the vaccines are fully authorized, there will be discussion on how to encourage employees to get vaccinated to include incentives and testing,” Irwin said in an email. “Masks will continue to be mandatory for employees that have not been vaccinated.”
Riverbank is not requiring vaccines for employees, but those without the shots must take other safeguards, City Manager Sean Scully said in an email. Unvaccinated employees must wear masks and follow Cal OSHA guidelines, he added. Scully said he could not disclose how many employees are vaccinated “due to privacy rights.”
Ceres has neither discussed nor considered requiring staff vaccinations after full authorization, City Manager Tom Westbrook said in an email. Westbrook also did not disclose the vaccination rate for city employees.
Oakdale did not respond to inquiries before publication.
Bee reporter Ken Carlson contributed to this article.
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
