As the fast-spreading delta variant of COVID-19 upends what was supposed to be a summer marking the return of normalcy to daily life, the state is moving to require vaccinations or weekly testing among new groups of employees.
Governor Phil Murphy announced on August 2 that all workers in hospitals, long-term care centers, prisons, and a number of other state and private healthcare facilities and high-risk congregate settings must be vaccinated by September 7 or be required to undergo frequent testing for COVID.
The private settings to which the vaccine mandate applies include long-term and assisted living facilities, county jails, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, behavioral health facilities, and home health agencies.
While officials in New York City and elsewhere have recently mandated that government workers be vaccinated or face weekly testing, Murphy, who is up for re-election this year, has so far declined to require vaccination among state workers. But he has reiterated that private employers are free to implement as rigorous a vaccine policy as the one just announced for healthcare workers.
In a June webinar hosted by the Employers Association of New Jersey, president John Sarno reiterated private employers’ discretion to implement their own policies.
“New Jersey law requires that health and safety standards imposed by executive order cannot exceed CDC guidance, although Sarno points out that employers are permitted to impose stricter requirements regarding mask-wearing and social distancing in indoor settings for employees,” a summary from EANJ stated.
“Regardless of transmission rates, employers have discretion to implement their own policies,” Sarno said.
As of press time more than 10.5 million vaccine doses had been administered in New Jersey, and 5,309,373 people who live, work, or study in the state had been fully vaccinated.
The vaccine is available to everyone age 12 and older for free, regardless of citizenship status or access to insurance. With new evidence suggesting that the delta variant remains highly transmissible even among the fully vaccinated, everyone is currently encouraged to wear a mask in crowded, indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status.
