Bill de Blasio Orders NYC Workers To Get COVID-19 Vaccination Or Weekly Testing

Workers in New York City will have to deal with some new demands after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his plans to thwart the highly transmissible Delta variant.

On Monday, De Blasio said all municipal workers, including police officers and teachers, will be required to get the COVID-19 vaccination by Sept. 13 or face weekly testing.

The deadline for workers to be vaccinated falls on the first day of school for students in NYC. Classes are expected to go back to in-person for the entire school year after transitioning to remote learning at the height of the pandemic.

“On Sept. 13 the entire city workforce will be mandated under the COVID safety mandate to either get vaccinated, which is far preferable or get tested once a week,” De Blasio said in a statement. “This is about our recovery… this is about keeping people safe.”

Although De Blasio has not ordered a new mask mandate amid concerns about the new variant, he revealed all unvaccinated city workers will be required to wear masks while on the job.

“Let’s be blunt. If you are a city employee and you’re unvaccinated you must wear a mask indoors at work. We will not tolerate any decision to do otherwise because this is about protecting people’s health and well-being,” he said.

However, there has been some opposition against De Blasio’s new orders. AFSCME AFL-CIO District Council 37, the largest public employee union in NYC, called out the move and expressed the desire to negotiate new terms.

“If City Hall intends to test our members weekly, they must first meet us at the table to bargain,” said Henry Garrido, the union’s executive director.

“While we encourage everyone to get vaccinated and support measures to ensure our members’ health and wellbeing, weekly testing is clearly subject to mandatory bargaining. New York City is a union town and that cannot be ignored.”