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NYC Requiring Hospital Workers To Get Vaccine Or Weekly Test

Doctors test hospital staff with flu-like symptoms for the coronavirus outside the Emergency Department at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. Not all New York City hospitals are able to do coronavirus tests on-site.
Misha Friedman
/
Getty Images
Doctors test hospital staff with flu-like symptoms for the coronavirus outside the Emergency Department at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. Not all New York City hospitals are able to do coronavirus tests on-site.

New York City is now making public hospital workers either get vaccinated or tested for coronavirus. Starting on August 2nd, staff members heading to work at the city's 11 public hospitals must show proof of vaccination or take part in weekly testing. If they don't they will be suspended without pay. Dr. Mitchell Katz is the President of the city's public hospital system and says this is in response to a rise is coronavirus cases and the highly contagious delta variant.

"knowing my staff, this will increase our vaccination level. It will also address the single most important thing. We want to protect our patients and each other."

Roughly 40 percent of the city's public hospital and clinic workers are not vaccinated.