Dear Staff,
As you have now been notified by HR, mandatory masking of all employees at all times (except when eating and drinking) now resumes Friday at 5:00 p.m.
Because unvaccinated people are able to spread Covid not only to other unvaccinated people, but also to those who are vaccinated (who can then also spread it to others), and because that is happening in large numbers, the need is for everyone to be masked. As you know, Covid is spreading at rates seen during the height of the last surge – and with stronger variants that are much more contagious and much more lethal. This mask order is County-wide and applies to all indoor spaces including government offices and private businesses.
Many jurisdictions (federal and state) as well as private businesses have or are about to impose requirements that their staff be vaccinated OR be masked at all times if unvaccinated and have a Covid test anywhere from one the three times a week. Some restaurants, bars and businesses in the country are now requiring proof of vaccination before entry. Only time will tell if these measures, in the locales where they occur, will be enough to yet again turn the tide of this pandemic. It is a simple fact that not enough people have been vaccinated to achieve anything close to herd immunity.
Public Health has offered to come to our work locations to vaccinate staff if we have enough people in each location (20 or more) to make it worth their time. If you are interested in starting the vaccination process and taking advantage of a worksite vaccination, please email me (do not reply to all) your name and work location and I will work to have these vaccination opportunities happen at the locations where it makes sense.
There is no end date on the new Health Officer Order being issued requiring masks in all indoor public locations in the County because there is nothing in the current data and trends that suggests that this isn’t our reality for a very long time to come. If vaccination rates do not increase, and if masking is the only thing that moves the needle back in a positive direction, it is reasonable to assume that mask wearing for all of us will be our reality indefinitely.
We are not returning to social distancing, yet, and we are not going to change our rules regarding vaccinated staff being able to eat in the breakrooms, yet. I say ‘yet’ because as further data becomes available EOT might make adjustments in those and other areas for our Department.
People coming into our building starting Monday morning will need to be masked or they will need to be engaged in accordance with the instructions from HR.
We will continue to track staff who provide their vaccination cards and their self-attestation forms, so please continue to provide those. At 66% vaccinated we are at the low end of percent of vaccinated staff in all County departments.
I know that many of us are deeply saddened and extremely frustrated by these developments, and those are reasonable emotions. But we are paid to do a job in service to our community. Please do everything you can to be prepared for work Monday morning with a can-do attitude and the professional mindset to work with our new reality.