New York City and the state of California announced Monday that government workers will have to get vaccinated or submit to weekly tests for the coronavirus. Teachers in New York City, beginning in September, will need to follow the same requirements, as worries about the increasing Delta variant grow. But, Governor Andrew Cuomo is not announcing similar plans for New York State workers, and hinted that New York City’s order might not even be legal.
“The state would have to legislate to say “New York City, or Nassau or Buffalo employees…would have to be vaccinated,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo says New York will combat the spread of the Delta variant by increasing efforts to reach the unvaccinated. $15 million will go to community-based organizations in key zip codes with low vaccination rates to try to persuade people to get the shot.
The groups include the Hispanic and Asian-American Federations, the New York Immigration Coalition and the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies.
As of Sunday, 74.6% of New Yorkers over the age of 18 have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 56.6% of all New Yorkers are fully vaccinated.
Cuomo says without getting the state’s vaccination numbers up, the Delta variant will likely drive a surge in infections, and he says “we can’t go through this again.”
