Responding to lagging vaccination rates and a rise in coronavirus cases, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Wednesday that New York’s tens of thousands of state employees would be required to show proof of vaccination or face weekly testing.
The governor also announced a much stricter mandate for state-run hospitals, saying that all “patient-facing” health care workers at those facilities would be required to be vaccinated, without the option of regular testing instead.
Mr. Cuomo’s announcement comes two days after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a similar requirement for New York City’s government work force of 300,000 employees.
Much of the nation is grappling with the rapid spread of the Delta coronavirus variant. Earlier this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California announced a similar requirement that would cover 246,000 state government employees, as well as two million health care workers in the public and private sectors.
The Biden administration is considering a similar requirement for all civilian federal employees, officials said on Tuesday. Such a policy would be a stark shift for a president who has grappled with the authority he has to force Americans to get vaccinated. Mr. Biden is expected to say more about his plans later this week.
The increasing support among government officials for vaccine mandates, which have met with pushback from some unions, underscores their concern with a far more contagious variant that poses a special threat to children, and older and unvaccinated people.
“We’re working with our unions to implement this quickly and fairly,” Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, said during remarks to a state business group on Wednesday.
The new state policy will go into effect by Labor Day, he said.
Earlier this week, Mr. Cuomo had shied away from imposing such a requirement on the state’s work force, arguing that most “public-facing” employees were municipal workers, and suggesting it was more of a decision for localities.
But Mr. Cuomo’s shift in stance appeared inevitable following Mr. de Blasio’s announcement and news of a similar forthcoming requirement at the federal level. Mr. Cuomo also highlighted the urgency, noting the steady rise in coronavirus cases statewide: About 2,200 new coronavirus cases were reported on Tuesday, up from 275 a month ago, on June 28.
Currently, most New York State employees are not subject to regular testing, except for those working in some congregate settings like colleges and universities.
For example, staff and faculty members at the State University of New York and the City University of New York are required to get tested for the coronavirus weekly unless they are fully vaccinated, a policy similar to the one Mr. de Blasio announced this week.
The public universities will require proof of vaccination from students attending in-person classes once the Food and Drug Administration fully approves the vaccines, although that could be months away. The vaccines are now being administered under an emergency use authorization.
