Inland Empire not following LA County's…
Inland Empire not following LA County's lead on employee vaccine mandates
By Ryan Carter | rcarter@scng.com and Deepa Bharath | dbharath@scng.com | Daily News
PUBLISHED: August 10, 2021 at 6:54 p.m. | UPDATED: August 10, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.
As coronavirus cases surge and people resist getting vaccinated, Los Angeles County will now require its employees to be inoculated and is pondering a vaccine mandate for public places.
But Inland Empire county officials say they're not considering such moves right now.
On Tuesday, Aug. 10, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously ratified an executive order for all county employees to be vaccinated or tested weekly. The board also set the wheels in motion on a possible mandate requiring proof of vaccination for the public before entering indoor spots such as restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues.
The L.A. County mandate requires all employees — regardless of their department — to be fully vaccinated no later than Oct. 1. In the process of assuring compliance, there could be exemptions, including for medical and religious issues, officials said Tuesday.
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Officials in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, where COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been steadily rising, said they are reluctant to consider such mandates at this time.
In Riverside County, nearly twice the number of residents were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Sunday, Aug. 8, as were two weeks ago. On July 26, 222 people were hospitalized with the virus. On Sunday, that number was 437.
Also, as of Sunday, there were 416 San Bernardino County residents hospitalized with the virus, including 93 in intensive care. Those numbers have not been that high since February. Hospitalizations have surged for nine days straight.
Riverside County officials are not considering a vaccination mandate for employees or thinking about asking the public to show proof of vaccination at businesses and entertainment venues, county health spokesperson Jose Arballo Jr. said Tuesday.
"We have followed state guidelines and recommendations and we'll continue to do that," he said. "If something changes with the state guidelines, we might consider revisiting these issues at that point."
San Bernardino County currently "has no plans to create local health orders or mandates beyond what is required by the state," county spokesperson David Wert said.
"State health orders apply within San Bernardino County as well as all other counties," he said. "Not adopting local COVID-19 health orders helps to avoid confusion and ensure consistency."
San Bernardino County supervisors have been talking about such mandates, but are not now in favor of them, said Curt Hagman, chairman of the county's board of supervisors.
"I think it's pretty intrusive," he said. "I would like everyone to get vaccinated. I'm vaccinated as are members of the family. But, I'm just uncomfortable forcing them to do it. Some people just don't want to get vaccinated. Our job is to put all the information out there and let people make their own decisions."
Hagman said county officials expected cases to rise after the state reopened June 15. He said he also worries about the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.
"I don't want to be in a situation where we force healthcare workers to get vaccinated and that causes people to not show up to work," he said. "We don't want our hospitals to be short-staffed when cases are going up and people need medical care."
Los Angeles County executive officials said the process of figuring out how to enforce the vaccine mandate for employees is still "work in progress," acknowledging there will be a fraction of employees who will all-out refuse to get the jab. That's why officials say a more definitive plan for the program was forthcoming.
A related motion by Supervisors Janice Hahn and Sheila Kuehl, which was approved by the board, also pushed to assure that the county's policy covers outside contractors. Kuehl said the process of conferring with employee groups, understanding who and who is not vaccinated, needed to begin immediately.
But with the relentless growth of the delta variant, and potentially up to 35% of county workers not yet vaccinated, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said the time is right to trigger the mandate.
"I don't think we can wait any longer," she said. "This is simply the right to do," she said, adding that it was up to the county to set an example for businesses and agencies.
Solis said the timeline gives employees time to consult with healthcare providers, while moving expeditiously to protect the health and safety of the county's 110,000 workers.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom previously announced that all state employees and all workers at public and private health-care facilities in California will be required to get vaccinated or get tested at least once per week. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia last week announced similar policies for their municipal employees. The city of Pasadena previously announced plans to implement a vaccine requirement for workers.
The mandatory vaccination requirement for members of the public at indoor spaces would likely be modeled after vaccine requirements rolled out in France and other European countries, officials said. It also would follow a more aggressive push in New York City, where the city has mandated proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter certain indoor businesses, including restaurants, entertainment venues and gyms. The Los Angeles City Council is also considering a similar mandate.
Over the next two weeks supervisors have asked the health department to consider what this public vaccine mandate would look like, including whether it would require one dose or a full vaccination and which indoor public spaces to which the mandate should apply. Officials would also consider what kind of proof would have to be shown to enter a business or an indoor public space and how such a mandate would be enforced.
Business owners already have questions and concerns about this possible mandate.
"I'm going to have to hire somebody to stand outside like a bouncer, I guess, and check everyone's vaccine card," said Brent Peskin, owner of Brent's Delicatessen and Restaurant in Northridge. "And then, who do you call when the customer says … 'I'm not showing you this.' I'm sure there's going to be a lot of upset customers."
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Ryan Carter | Reporter
Ryan Carter, a reporter and editor, is part of team covering COVID-19 in L.A. County and lead election and politics coverage in L.A. County.Ryan started his career writing obituaries at the Glendale News-Press, before working as assistant city editor for Times Community News (Division of the L.A. Times) and city editorfor the Glendale News-Press, San Bernardino Sun and L.A. Daily News. Ryan earned a BA degree in Political Science from UCLA and is working toward his Master's of Legal Studies at UCLA.
rcarter@scng.com
Follow Ryan Carter	@ryinIE
Deepa Bharath | Reporter
Deepa Bharath covers religion for The Orange County Register and the Southern California Newspaper Group. Her work is focused on how religion, race and ethnicity shape our understanding of what it is to be American and how religion in particular helps influence public policies, laws and a region's culture. Deepa also writes about race, cultures and social justice issues. She has covered a number of other beats ranging from city government to breaking news for the Register since May 2006. She has received fellowships from the International Women's Media Foundation and the International Center for Journalists to report stories about reconciliation, counter-extremism and peace-building efforts around the world. When she is not working, she loves listening to Indian classical music and traveling with her husband and son.
dbharath@scng.com
Follow Deepa Bharath	@reporterdeepa
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