Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to announce a possible vaccine order Wednesday for teachers and staff at all California public schools.
Newsom is scheduled to speak at a 10:50 a.m. news conference in Oakland. The governor, who faces a recall election next month, will announce that public school employees either be vaccinated or provide a regular negative test, according to the Los Angeles Times.
NBCLA has not confirmed details about the plan.
In Southern California, the LAUSD, the nation’s second largest district, is requiring everyone, regardless of whether they’ve been vaccinated, to get COVID tests weekly. The LAUSD plans on offering full-day instruction five days a week, and will offer after-school programs.
All Long Beach Unified School District staff will be required to show proof of vaccination or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing when classes resume at the end of the month, the district confirmed Tuesday.
The requirements are among increasingly more aggressive efforts by state and local officials to encourage vaccinations. Also on Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council is considering a proof-of-vaccination requirement for some indoor public spaces.
Barbara Ferrer, director of the county Department of Public Health, told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday that the agency will issue a revised health order this week aligning with a new state mandate requiring all workers at health-care facilities to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 30.
The California Teachers Association has said 90% or more of its members have reported that they are vaccinated.
Some Bay Area school districts already have announced vaccine mandates for teachers and staff, including San Francisco and Oakland just this week.
Newsom’s announcement and other vaccine and testing requirements come during a surge of cases involving the Delta variant in California. Ferrer has said the fact that some fully vaccinated people are still contracting the virus should not dissuade people from getting the shots. She again provided statistics showing that the chance of a vaccinated person being infected is less than 1%, and those who do become infected rarely become sick enough to require hospitalization.
California COVID-19 Vaccinations
The map tracks the number of doses administered by a recipient’s county of residence according to the The California Department of Public Health.
As of Aug. 3, of more than 5 million fully vaccinated county residents, 15,628 tested positive, for a rate of 0.31%, Ferrer said. There were 446 fully vaccinated people who have been hospitalized, a rate of 0.009%, and 41 died, a rate of 0.0008%.
“While it is true that these vaccines are not 100% perfect, no vaccines are,” she said.
Los Angeles County reported another 2,622 COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, raising the overall total from throughout the pandemic to 1,331,859. Another 22 deaths were also reported, raising the county’s COVID death toll to 24,805.
