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Home My WebLink About10. Hold discussion regarding COVID-19 Vaccinations as a condition of employment Page 1 of 3 Item 10. CENTRALSAN jdf A- hom CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT September 16, 2021 TO: HONORABLE BOARD OF DIRECTORS FROM: EMILYBARNETT, COMMUNICATIONS AND GOVERNMENT RELATIONS MANAGER REVIEWED BY: TEJI O'MALLEY, HUMAN RESOURCES AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT MANAGER ROGER S. BAILEY, GENERAL MANAGER SUBJECT: HOLD A DISCUSSION REGARDING REQUIRING COVI D-19 VACCINATIONS ASA CONDITION OF CENTRAL SAN EMPLOYMENT At the September 2, 2021 Board meeting, Member Hockett requested an item be agendized for the Board to hold further discussion on COVI D-19 vaccinations for employees, including detailed timelines to complete vaccinations, should the Board decide to make vaccinations a condition of employment. Since that meeting, more information has become available on this topic and is provided below (as of the posting of this agenda). The recent surge and severity of COVI D-19 exposures at the national, state, regional, county, and employee levels due to the Delta and other variants has prompted a policy discussion on whether to require COVI D-19 vaccinations as a condition of Central San employment. Federal Level: On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced the strictest vaccination measures to date for employers and employees. The President's Plan is aimed at stopping the recent surge of the virus by focusing on vaccinating approximately 80 million Americans (25%)that remain unvaccinated. The President's announcement includes the following key information and action items: • Orders all executive branch employees and more than 17 million federal health care workers to be vaccinated. Federal employees who do not comply will face progressive disciplinary action that could include dismissal. • Federal contractors will lose the testing option and be required to vaccinate for contracts entered into on or after October 15, 2021. • Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration will develop an emergency regulation requiring companies with 100 or more employees to require staff to be vaccinated or tested weekly, and to give paid time off for inoculation. Employers who do not comply could face September 16, 2021 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 81 of 85 Page 2 of 3 fines. • Will call on states to require vaccines in all schools, and large entertainment venues to require patrons to provide vaccination or a negative COVI D-19 test. • States will see a 50% increase in weekly shipments of monoclonal antibodies, a main therapy to treat COVID-19 patients. • Federal government will spend nearly$2 billion to buy 280 million rapid tests to meet the expanding testing requirement and use the wartime Defense Production Act to increase test manufacturing. • Pending approval from health officials, booster shots are planned to begin for all Americans starting September 20, 2021. • Fines will be doubled for people who refuse to wear a mask during interstate travel, including on airlines. The President's stricter vaccination plan is focused on ending the pandemic, economic recovery and protecting students, many of which (11 years of age or younger) are not yet approved for COVI D-19 vaccinations. A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has shown vaccine efficacy has dropped from 91% in April 2021 to 66% in August 2021 due to the Delta Variant. The significance and speed of the efficacy drop has alarmed federal officials, which also prompted the assertiveness and rapidity of the President's Plan. Vaccines continue to be highly effective in preventing hospitalization or death should a vaccinated person catch the disease. Therefore, Central San continues to encourage employees to get vaccinated. Local Level: Locally, the Delta Variant continues to impact the residents of Contra Costa County, but high vaccination rates have successfully seen a drop in both active COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. As of September 10, 2021, 2,711 active COVID-19 cases were reported in the County; however, this is a 43.3% decrease in cases over the previous two weeks. The hospitalization rate decreased by 8.5% over the prior two weeks. Currently the County falls within the Mild Range for Hospitalization Surge. These trends seem to be in large part due to the extremely high vaccination rates for the County, 84.6% of eligible residents are vaccinated. As previously shared at the September 2, 2021 Board meeting, wastewater and water agencies, like Central San, recently paused their return to office plans in order to tackle the recent Delta Variant surge. In addition, several agencies have gone a step further and required mandatory vaccinations of their employees prior to the President's announcement including: Agency Mandating Comments Vaccinations Alameda County Water District Not at this time Contra Costa Water District Not at this time Delta Diablo Not at this time Dublin San Ramon Services District Not at this time East Bay Municipal Utilities District Yes Beginning September 13, mandatory testing if not vaccinated. By November 1, employees are required to be fully vaccinated or will face progressive discipline with eventual termination. September 16, 2021 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 82 of 85 Page 3 of 3 Oro Loma Sanitary District Not at this time San Francisco Public Utilities District Yes By November 1, employees are required to be fully vaccinated. As of August 30, over 90% of City and County of San Francisco employees had been vaccinated. Union Sanitary District Not at this time Vallejo Wastewater Not at this time Valley Water Yes Mandate effective August 23, 2021. Regular testing required for unvaccinated. Central San: Recently, Central San has experienced a number of employee COVID-19 cases, including employee-to- employee exposures. Additional employees who are not exhibiting symptoms but may have been exposed are in quarantine per the District's COVID-19 Exposure Prevention Plan. The impact of the Delta Variant surge on Central San is shown in the recent increase in employee cases. Only 13 employee COVID-19 cases occurred from March 2020 through July 2021 (16 months). Since August 4, 2021, five COVID-19 employee cases have occurred with one being a breakthrough case. Currently, the Collection System Operations (CSO) location has met the CAL/OS HA"outbreak"definition triggering mandatory employer paid weekly testing as well as other required measures which will lessen the chance of transmission in the workplace. These measures include, but are not limited to, moving work outdoors, remote work where possible, and restructuring work to lessen population density. While the hope is that no further employees become exposed to COVID-19 on or off site, with the current Delta Variant surge, the likelihood is high for further employee cases. On July 30, 2021, Central San's Human Resources required attestation of each employee's vaccination status. The information provided is as follows: Vaccination Status # of Employees Percentage Fully Vaccinated 240 76.68% Partially Vaccinated 3 0.96% Unvaccinated 21 6.71% Choose Not to Disclose 49 15.65% Total 313 Strategic Plan Tie-In GOAL SEVEN:Agility and Adaptability Strategy 1—Maintain a safe working environment for employees and the public during the COVID-19 pandemic Strategy 2—Plan ahead for scenarios of direct adverse impacts September 16, 2021 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 83 of 85 Item 10. CENTRAL SAN'S (Handout) VI D -1 CO 9 VACCINATION PEm DISCUSSION Pandemic Response Team Co-coordinators ily Barnett, Communications & Government Relations Manager Teji O'Malley, Human Resources Manager September 16, 2021 1 STATUS OF THE PANDEMIC - FEDERAL • 9/9/21 In response to Delta Variant surge, President Biden announces strictest vaccination measures to date for employers and employees impacting roughly 80 million Americans including: • Orders all executive branch employees and more than 17 million federal health care workers to be vaccinated. Federal employees who do not comply will face progressive disciplinary action that could include dismissal. Federal contractors will lose the testing option and be required to vaccinate for contracts entered into on or after October 15, 2021. • Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is anticipated to release regulations September 24, 2021, that will develop and add specifics for an emergency regulation requiring companies with 100 or more employees to require staff to be vaccinated or tested weekly, and to lk;, give paid time off for inoculation. Employers who do not comply may face t nes. 2 ' 1 STATUS OF THE PANDEMIC - FEDERAL • President Biden announcement continued: • Will call on states to require vaccines in all schools, and large entertainment venues to require patrons provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. • States will see a 50% increase in weekly shipments of monoclonal antibodies, a main therapy to treat COVID-19 patients. • Federal government will spend nearly $2 billion to buy 280 million rapid tests to meet the expanding testing requirement and use the wartime Defense Production Act to increase test manufacturing. • Pending approval from health officials, booster shots are planned to begin for all Americans starting September 20, 2021. • Fines will be doubled for people who refuse to wear a mask during interstate avel, including on airlines. 3 ' 3 STATUS OF THE PANDEMIC - LOCAL VF • 9/14/21 Contra Costa County vaccination rate nearly 85% of residents 12 and older who have received one shot or more. • 9/14/21 Over last two weeks County has seen a drop in COVID-19 cases by over 45% over previous two weeks. • 9/14/21 Over last two weeks County has seen a decrease in hospitalizations by over 9% over previous two weeks. 4 ' 2 STATUS OF THE PANDEMIC - LOCAL Rates for fully vaccinated vs unvaccinated populations Number of New Cases per Day per 100,000 Residents(7-Day Rofling Average) 180.8 [ 4/11J2021 4/25/2021 5/9/2021 5/23/2021 6/6/2021 6/20/2021 7/4/2021 7/18/2021 8/1/2921 8/15/2621 8/29/2021 . Unvaccinated population Fully Vaccinated population As of 9/14/2021 5 CENTRALSAN 5 STATUS OF THE PANDEMIC - LOCAL Total Deaths (i' %of COVID-19 Deaths Among Unvaccinated 906 9509 % Totai deaths from COVID-19 in Contro Costa. Percentage of COVID-19 related deaths in people who were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated since December 15,262@ when vaccines became ovailabie. As of 9/14/2021 6 1 3 STATUS OF THE PANDEMIC - LOCAL 7-Day Rolling Average%of New Tests Positive by Collection Day LMJA W 7/112026 IWV202e 1/112021 41112(371 7fl/Mi As of 9/14/2021 7 ' 1154350�qff MI 7 STATUS OF THE PANDEMIC - LOCAL 4P • 9/14/21 County issues health order effective September 22, 2021 , to require COVID-19 proof of vaccination or negative test result in prior three days to enter businesses of gyms, yoga and dance studios, restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues. • 9/14/21 County states in press release "While the peak of the surge seems to have passed, data show the county's daily case rate remains as high as it was last February. There were 15 COVID-related deaths in Contra Costa from August 25 to 31 , and 20 from September 1 to 7, the two highest seven-day totals since March. Unvaccinated residents account for 95.9% of the county's deaths so far." A IMa CFNTPAI SAN 4 STATUS OF THE PANDEMIC - LOCAL *IF • 9/14/21 County states in press release "COVID-19 case rates are about five times higher in unvaccinated county residents compared to fully vaccinated residents, hospitalization rates are approximately 16 times higher, and death rates are approximately 22 times higher." 9 ' 11154350�=T-ml 9 VACCINATIONS - OTHER AGENCIES . . IN Delta Diablo Not at this time ■ ■ Not at this time Beginning September 13, mandatory testing if not vaccinated. By November 1, employees East Bay Municipal Utilities District Yes are required to be fully vaccinated or will face progressive discipline with eventual termination. • Not at this time • Not at this time By November 1, employees are required to be FranciscoSan Public Utilities fully vaccinated.As of August 30, over 90%of District Yes City and County of San Francisco employees had been vaccinated. Vallejo Wastewater Not at this time ContraDistrict Not at this time Alameda County Water District Not at this time Valley Water Yes Mandate effective August 23, 2021. Regular testing required for unvaccinated. 10 10 5 STATUS OF THE PANDEMIC — CENTRAL SAN EmployeesVaccination Status # of . . - Fully • 240 76.68% VaccinatedPartially 3 0.96% Unvaccinated 21 6.71% Choose - 49 15.65% • 313 • Total employee COVID-19 cases — 19. • Total employee COVID-19 cases since August 4, 2021 (Delta Surge) — 6. As of 9/14/2021 11 ' 11 6