Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
For: The Opinion
Wednesday, October 9
California public school children will receive rapid tests for Covid on their return to school
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that all public school students from Kindergarten through 19 when they return to school after winter break, adding that the state was ordering 6 million test kits.
The state has accounted for only 0.3% of school closings, despite having the 12% of the country’s student population, he said. California will also extend the hours of state-operated test centers that have reached capacity, Newsom said.
California will also will require that healthcare workers and those who work in “high-risk congregated environments ” receive a COVID vaccine booster – 19 before February 1 , Governor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday, as part of state response to highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Approximately 2.5 million workers in the California health workers have until February 1 to receive a coronavirus booster shot or risk losing their jobs, Newsom said.
The command follows an order of the 30 September for that state health workers are fully vaccinated.
LIVE NOW: Governor @ GavinNewsom announces new state actions to protect Californians amid the growing threat of the Omicron variant, including requiring boosters for health care workers. https://t.co/oDhNXmuYT4
— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) December 19, 2021
“We now recognize that with this new variant it is not enough to be fully vaccinated, and we believe it is important to extend this requirement to receive that third dose, to receive a booster,” Newsom said in a briefing.
State employees who have not yet received a booster must be tested for COVID – 19 twice a week before the February 1 deadline, Newsom said in a statement.
Workers have been allowed to apply for religious or medical exemptions.
While California, the most populous state in the country, exceeds the national average for complete vaccines with a 65. 5 %, is light behind the national average in booster vaccines with just under the 30 %, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although California has one of the highest COVID infection rates – 19 lowest in the country, Newsom cited recent increases showing new Cases nearly doubled last week, when the Omicron variant of the coronavirus swept the country.
“I am aware right now, with (one of) the lowest positivity rates in the nation, the sixth lowest case rate, that that can change in a matter of days, not just weeks or months, ”he said.
In response to the highly transmissible Omicron variant, Governor Gavin Newsom says California will require all healthcare workers to receive the booster vaccine .