By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
In response to soaring COVID cases and stagnant vaccination numbers, President Joe Biden last week announced broad orders to stave off the virus.
The new rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require their employees to be vaccinated or tested weekly for the virus, affecting about 80 million Americans.
And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid will have to be fully vaccinated.
“The rule isn’t yet in place, but we know it’s coming,” Wood County Health Commissioner Ben Robison said on Wednesday.
There are many questions surrounding the orders, but Robison stressed that private industry workers won’t lose their jobs if they refuse the vaccine.
“The options are not – be vaccinated or be fired,” he said. “The options are – be vaccinated or be tested” weekly.
More guidance is expected from the federal government, Robinson said.
“We’re kind of all in a holding pattern on what this means,” he said.
In Wood County, the new mandate would affect several manufacturers that employ more than 100 people, plus hospitals.
Local governments appear to not be covered under the new requirements – at least for now, said Wood County Administrator Andrew Kalmar. The 100-plus employee rule falls under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
But local public employees, such as county workers, are covered under the Public Employment Risk Reduction Program. However, Kalmar pointed out that PERPP may decide to enact the same vaccine requirement since it operates under the same rules.
Kalmar also expects that Ohio’s governor, attorney general and legislators will get involved, possibly trying to block the mandate.
“They call all those shots,” he said.
As for Bowling Green manufacturers affected by the 100-plus employee rule, calls were placed to five companies to get their reactions, but none returned phone calls.
Bowling Green Economic Development Executive Director Kati Thompson said on Tuesday that she had not heard from any local businesses about the new mandate.
Kalmar expressed some concern about the order that any health care facility receiving Medicare or Medicaid must require vaccines – with testing not being an option. Nursing homes are already suffering from a labor shortage, he said, and requiring staff to be vaccinated will make it more difficult to fill positions.
“We’re being put in a very tough spot,” Kalmar said.
At Wood Haven Health Care, 73% of the employees are vaccinated, but by following strict protocols, the nursing home has seen few COVID cases.
“Throughout the whole pandemic, we’ve had exactly three cases at Wood Haven,” he said.
As for schools, Biden is pressing states to require the vaccine for teachers – so Robison doesn’t hold out much hope for that to happen.
Wood County is currently seeing 33 times more cases of COVID than in the summer.
“We are seeing a surge in cases,” Robison said. “We’ve got to make decisions based on where we are now.”
The growing cases are creating burdens on the local health care systems and increased absenteeism in workplaces, he said. Increased vaccinations would help reduce the cases, he added.
“It buys us time. We want to keep these cases down to a manageable number.”
The FDA’s full approval of the vaccines last month brought a small uptick in people getting vaccinations locally, Robison said.
“We know that approval was important to a number of people,” he said. “I guess I feel like I hope that people here reviewed the data and understand the benefits.”
But for those not convinced by the science, the federal vaccine rule may lead to more people rolling up their sleeves.
“The mandate will almost certainly lead to vaccine upticks,” Robison said, noting that people at recent vaccine clinics have mentioned the federal rule. “Some people are telling us they are getting the vaccine because of the upcoming mandate.”
According to the Associated Press, despite more than 208 million Americans having at least one dose of the vaccines, the U.S. is seeing about 300% more new COVID-19 infections a day, about two-and-a-half times more hospitalizations, and nearly twice the number of deaths compared to the same time last year. Some 80 million people remain unvaccinated.
After months of using promotions to drive the vaccination rate, Biden is trying a firmer hand, as he blames people who have not yet received shots for the sharp rise in cases killing more than 1,000 people per day and imperiling a fragile economic rebound.
