By Caitlin Froom
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
City employees in Baltimore will be asked to get the coronavirus vaccine or produce weekly negative COVID-10 test results, Mayor Brandon Scott said Friday in a news conference.
The new vaccination policy for employees will take effect on Oct. 18, Scott said.
In a recent press conference, the mayor announced that the city will continue to provide free tests to its employees and vaccination clinics for employees and the members of their households.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure that our employees have ample opportunities to get vaccinated,” Scott said.
According to the city’s COVID-19 dashboard, there have been 71,468 positive cases and 1,184 deaths in Baltimore City since the beginning of the pandemic.
Baltimore City is averaging about 109 new cases per day and 134 hospitalizations in the past two weeks, said Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, Baltimore City’s commissioner of health. The majority of all current cases come from the Delta variant, the most dangerous and most transmissible variant Dzirasa said.
“As of today, 66.1% of residents have received the first or single dose of [the] vaccine and 59% of residents are fully vaccinated,” Scott said. “We know that vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent transmission of COVID-19 and to limit hospitalizations and death.”
The CDC recommends that any moderately to severely immunocompromised residents receive a third dosage of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.
The CDC also recommends that residents 65 years and older, residents who live in long-term healthcare units, and immunocompromised residents receive the Pfizer booster shot at least 6 months after completion of both doses of the Pfizer vaccine, Dzirasa said.