New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday night declared a state of emergency to deal with possible staffing shortfalls resulting from the statewide vaccination mandate for healthcare workers.
“Last night,” the Democrat governor wrote on Twitter Tuesday, “I took bold action and signed an executive order that will alleviate potential staffing shortages in our hospitals and other health care facilities across New York State.”
“My desire is to have the people who’ve been out there continue to work in their jobs, working in them safely,” she said Monday at a news conference in the Bronx. “To all the other health care workers who are vaccinated, they also deserve to know that the people they’re working with will not get them sick.”
It’s not clear why Hochul suggested that someone who is vaccinated against COVID-19 would be at a higher risk of getting sick from someone who isn’t vaccinated. Some studies have shown that fully vaccinated individuals can transmit the virus, although federal health officials have asserted that the vaccine protects against serious illness and hospitalization.
Over the weekend, Hochul said that she would direct the National Guard to potentially replace healthcare workers who were terminated or suspended from their jobs due to their vaccination status. Her office also raised the possibility of hiring accredited nurses from other states and other countries, or those who are retired.
The New York State Department of Health last month issued an order that all health care workers in the state would be required to get at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot by Sept. 27. According to her office, about 16 percent of all healthcare workers in New York are not vaccinated against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
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