COVID: Marin County Issues New Vaccination Mandate for First Responders Amid Dozens of Outbreaks
SAN RAFAEL (CBS SF) -- First responders including people working in law enforcement, firefighting, and emergency medical response must be fully vaccinated and boosted to work in Marin County's higher-risk settings according to a new health order spurred by over three dozen COVID outbreaks, officials announced Wednesday.
The health order takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on February 10.
According to the announcement issued by county officials, unvaccinated first responders will need to receive their first dose of the COVID vaccine by March 1 and complete their primary series no later than April 15. Additionally, personnel will need to be up-to-date with a booster shot within 15 days of becoming booster-eligible to continue working in higher-risk settings and interact with the public.
Starting April 15, unvaccinated or unboosted first responders will be prohibited from entering higher-risk settings or interacting with the public in the course of their work unless they have a qualifying exemption. Anyone without a medical or religious exemption can no longer "test out" of vaccination requirements.
The announcement noted that recent COVID-19 outbreaks have been traced to unvaccinated first responders, according to Marin County Public Health records. As of February 7, Marin County Public Health was managing over three dozen preventable outbreaks in vulnerable, higher-risk settings.
Those settings include those in which the first responders work with people who are at higher risk of severe illness, hospitalization, or death from COVID-19, including congregate settings. Active outbreaks countywide include one at the Marin County Jail, nine at skilled nursing facilities, nine at residential care facilities for the elderly, and 19 at other group living facilities.
"These outbreaks have been amplified by contact with unboosted staff, an inadequate testing cadence, and a highly contagious variant," said Marin County Deputy Public Health Officer Dr. Lisa Santora. "It is critical to protect our public safety and health care systems from the Omicron variant as well as future waves of COVID-19 activity."
First responders included in the order are police officers, Sheriff's deputies, probation officers, part-time and full-time firefighters, and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel, and those providing pre-hospital medical care. Additionally, the order applies to first responders who routinely interact with the public.
The outbreaks due to the highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19 have spread despite Marin having one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates of any county in the nation with 94.9% of those aged 5 and over being completely vaccinated.
"While highly vaccinated, Marin County is experiencing waning community immunity," Santora added. "It has been more than one year since many first responders completed their primary COVID-19 vaccine series."
For the time being, workers in those first-responder roles who are not fully vaccinated or not up-to-date with a booster must comply with the following if they have not tested positive for COVID-19 in past 90 days:
- use a fit-tested N95 mask at all times when around other people, except when eating, bathing, or sleeping; and,
- undergo twice weekly testing; and,
- when practicable, avoid using indoor breakrooms or cafeterias and avoid eating indoors or sleeping indoors when others are present.
More information is available at Coronavirus.MarinHHS.org.
