FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – Miami-Dade County will require weekly COVID-19 testing for all of its 29,000 employees unless they show proof of vaccination amid a surge of infections from the delta variant of the coronavirus. Florida’s burden of new cases has grown ten times in the last six weeks alone.
“This policy that we are announcing today will help ensure we are doing our part to maintain a safe, healthy workplace, and that county employees are doing our part to prevent the spread of COVID across this community,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Thursday.
Starting Aug. 16, employees who wish to opt out of the testing can show proof of vaccination, she said.
“We’ve endured too much and seen too many families hurting. We have the power to avoid what is truly preventable,” the mayor said in a tweet on Thursday urging people to get the vaccine.
The county also hired Jared Moskowitz, who oversaw Florida’s pandemic response as director of the state’s Division of Emergency Management until he stepped down in the spring, to be a special advisor on the county’s COVID response, she said.
Jackson Health System CEO Carlos Migoya attended a news conference with the mayor on Thursday, saying the hospital also is rolling out a policy to encourage staff to get the vaccine. He’s said approximately 5,200 of the hospital’s 13,000 workers remain unvaccinated.
“They will not be allowed to enter any Jackson cafeteria, dining room or coffee shop, nor will they be able to take off their N95 masks to eat or drink inside of our facilities,” Migoya said.
To encourage cooperation, he said employees who get the shots by Sept. 30 will receive $150.
The policy will remain in effect until “the end of the pandemic,” Migoya said.
At the beginning of July, the hospital was treating 66 patients for COVID-19; their caseload grew to 320 by Thursday, he said.
“Nearly 100% of them, I’d say 100% of them are unvaccinated,” Migoya added.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state reported 20,133 new cases on Wednesday, raising Florida’s seven-day average to 18,120 cases. On July 1, the seven-day average in Florida was 1,839 cases.
Moskowitz, a Democrat from South Florida who worked with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis until deciding to leave the office in April, retweeted the mayor’s announcement of his hiring. His Twitter handle - MASKowitz - shows his difference with DeSantis, who has refused to order a mask mandate in Florida.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.