All pre-K-12 school employees, state workers must now be fully vaccinated or undergo weekly testing

As of yesterday, all pre-K-12 school employees and state workers must now be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) or be subject to testing at least once or twice a week, according to an article from NJ Advance Media.

This comes after Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) signed an executive order on Aug. 23 that would enforce this requirement by Oct. 18.

“Scientific data shows that vaccination and testing requirements, coupled with strong masking policies, are the best tools for keeping our schools and communities safe for in-person activities,” he said, according to a press release. “It is critically important to extend our vaccination and testing requirement to our state employees so that they can continue to safely provide vital government services for the benefit of all New Jerseyans.”

Employees who are unvaccinated and do not comply with testing requirements will be disciplined in accordance with agreements between their union and school district, according to the article. The state currently does not yet have data regarding how many workers have been vaccinated.

Several school districts are currently experiencing “vendor-related delays” in regards to their testing programs and have been given a limited amount of time to delay the implementation of the program, according to the article. Though, they are required to determine the vaccination status of all employees and be ready to begin testing as soon as the vendor is available.

It is currently not known how many schools are experiencing these testing delays.

In response to the executive order, a group of employees filed a lawsuit in federal court yesterday challenging it, arguing that it violates rights outlined in the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, according to the article. Additionally, more than 100 individuals protested vaccine mandates outside of the Statehouse in Trenton.

In addition, many state workers were required to return to in-person work, full-time for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic yesterday, according to the article. The return will be a phrased process to be completed over the next month and has so far shown a lower number of workers in comparison to before the pandemic.

“The number of state workers has dropped by nearly 3,200, or about 4 percent, compared to numbers from October 2019, data from the Civil Services Commission shows,” according to an article from NJ Advance Media. “Two years ago, the state had 74,369 active workers, and by this October, just 71,174.”