Over 24,000 New York City workers are staying home beginning today as Democratic Mayor Bill De Blasio's COVID vaccine mandate takes effect. Citizens and leaders in the city are worried about the ripple effect of the COVID vaccine mandate, which will surely cause employee shortages and delays in providing much needed services around the metropolis.
"That's the question everyone's asking: How many more minutes will it take to respond, how many more lives will be lost as a result?" a Manhattan patrol cop told the New York Post on Sunday. "There's a correlation between time and mortality that a lot of people in City Hall don't understand. Unfortunately, the only way they're going to get the message is by seeing the numbers rise and rise."
The Manhattan patrol cop lamented, "Seeing how crime is already on the rise, they really need to look at their priorities and decide if this is a good idea, and they need to do it soon."
New York City saw a 14% increase in the number of city government workers who have taken at least one COVID vaccine shot since the mandate was announced on October 20, but thousands remain determined not to get the jab and would rather be placed on unpaid leave. Among that demographic are 8,000 police officers, 3,700 New York Fire Department employees including smoke eaters and EMS,and about 2,000 sanitation workers, new statistics from the City Hall revealed.
Data from the City Hall also revealed that 91% of the city workforce has abided by the COVID vaccine mandate to get the first dose but 24,200 more remain unvaccinated as of 8 p.m/ on Saturday. Among those who strongly opposed De Blasio's mandate are members of the Fire Department of New York, who were ordered to get the COVID vaccine by 5 p.m. on Friday to get a $500 bonus.
Up to 26 fire companies across the five boroughs were closed down due to employee shortages on Saturday. At least 20 were still out of action by Sunday. The effects of employee shortages are already being felt.
When responding to a fire on Friday, fire officials said that ladder company firefighters had to go into the burning building to save two people even before water could be applied to the fire because the nearest backup engine company was 11 minutes away. One source lamented that the COVID vaccine mandate is "forcing the guys and gals who are on duty to take extra risks here. Firefighting is a very coordinated, a very multitasked operation."
Bloomberg reported that almost 10,000 New York City workers got their first required COVID shots before the Monday deadline. The mandate has slightly pushed vaccination rates upwards across the city as well. In the sanitation department, vaccination rates rose from 67% on Thursday to 79% on Saturday. Vaccination rates in the police department rose to 84% and rate in the fire department rose to 78%.
Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea reported on Friday that "thousands" of police officers have submitted applications for "reasonable accommodations" instead of the COVID vaccine. Officers who have successfully submitted their applications before Wednesday would be allowed to work but will be required to undergo testing while the decision for their exemption is being worked out.
