New York City will require workers in city-run hospitals and health clinics to get COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing for the virus, according to The New York Times.
The policy taking effect in early August applies to more than 10 percent of about 300,000 city government workers. This includes the 42,244-person workforce of the 11-hospital NYC Health + Hospitals system, as well as some workers in the city's health department.
"It's all about the safety of a healthcare setting," Bill Neidhardt, press secretary for Mayor Bill de Blasio, said, according to the Times.
The policy comes amid the spread of the delta coronavirus variant in the U.S. CDC Director Rochelle Wallensky, MD, recently reported that the variant now accounts for 83 percent of virus samples analyzed nationwide.
"This is a dramatic increase," she said July 20, according to The Wall Street Journal.. "In some parts of the country, the percentage is even higher, particularly in areas of low vaccination rates."
At NYC Health + Hospitals, about 60 percent of employees are vaccinated.