SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Governor Gavin Newsom frequently says the Golden State is leading the nation in COVID-19 responses. California was the first to require state employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing.
Is it working? The LA Times was the first to question it.
74% of people over the age of 18 are vaccinated in California, but the Department of Human Resources said Wednesday when it comes to state employees, that number drops down to 66%.
"As of last week 66% of state employees have provided proof of vaccination," Deputy Director of Communications Camille Travis said.
While Newsom was getting his booster shot in Oakland, he praised the mandate.
"We led as the first state to require as a state employer, the largest in the state, to require our own employees to be tested and/or vaccinated," Newsom said, "and we’re just beginning that process.”
That process started months ago on Aug. 2.
"We went from 62% to 67% of people getting vaccinated since we put this into effect; that’s pretty good progress," Newsom said.
The Department of Human Resources said the state does not have a fully functional testing program yet for those who are not vaccinated.
"Departments are working to scale their testing programs to every state location so that all employees who require testing have it available to them," Travis said. "We are about halfway there."
The Department of Motor Vehicles said, as of Wednesday, about 60% of DMV employees have verified they are vaccinated, but of the 3,500 employees who work in people-facing jobs, only 450 of them are vaccinated.
"The DMV expects to be testing 1,000 employees by early November. The goal is to, by the end of November, be testing 2,000-2,500. For the last 1,000 or so, we are still establishing protocols," the DMV said in a statement.
The LA Times reported that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has fewer than a third of employees who provided proof of vaccination, and Cal Fire is only testing 75 people weekly.
"We’re doing something at scale that’s never been done, so I like the progress we’re making. I like being at almost 67%," Newsom said. "I like the fact that some departments are at 90%."
Overall, the Department of Human Resources said about half of the employees who are not vaccinated were tested the first week of October.
The Department told the LA Times, like everything else, the supply chain shortage is affecting the testing.
Cal Fire said fighting all of the fires also slowed down their process quite a bit.
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