California Mandates Vaccines or Frequent Testing for School Staff

August 13, 2021

Gov. Gavin Newsom stated that on August 11th, California would be the first state to require all teachers and other school staff to be either COVID-19 vaccinated or submit to regular testing. As reported by USA Today in the article California Becomes First State to Mandate Vaccines or Testing for All Teachers, School Employees, Newsom Says, the delta variant continues to spread, with several states reporting the highest number of cases and hospitalizations since the pandemic began. Newsom's announcement comes only five weeks before a recall election that gained traction last year as a result of the state's strict COVID-19 mandates.

Teachers and all school staff — including custodians, aides, and bus drivers — must submit documentation of vaccination status to their school district, according to the mandate. Employees who have not been vaccinated must be tested on a weekly basis. California, the most populous state in the US, is the first to issue a mandate on all teachers and school personnel, including those employed by private schools. A week earlier, Hawaii issued a similar order that applies to public school personnel.

The over 1,000 school districts in California employ around 320,000 individuals. California has a student population of around 6.1 million. By Oct. 15th, schools and staff must be in compliance with the order. The federal government, as well as state and local officials, have issued the mandate after mandate on testing and vaccinations in the hopes of increasing vaccination rates amid a surge in hospitalizations among children and teenagers, a group that was thought to be immune to the virus and its dangerous symptoms.

To read the article in detail, visit: California Becomes First State to Mandate Vaccines or Testing for All Teachers, School Employees, Newsom Says.