Vaccine Or Weekly Tests Required For County Employees

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — Employees of the Prince George's County government must get the coronavirus vaccine or undergo weekly testing starting this fall. County Executive Angela Alsobrooks announced the new policy in an Aug. 18 executive order.

Employees must submit evidence of their immunization by 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 3. Anybody who hasn't gotten the inoculation must produce a negative coronavirus test each week until they are fully vaccinated. Officials will punish those who fail to comply with increasingly strict consequences up to and including termination.

The rule also applies to volunteers and contractors of the county government. Alsobrooks strongly encouraged quasi-government and independent agencies to adopt the same regulations.

The Office of Human Resources Management will send workers more details, including how to apply for a medical or a religious exception.

Worsening Metrics

The case rate in Prince George's County has risen to 19.59 new infections per day per 100,000 residents. That's down from its Jan. 14 peak of 58.33, but it's up from its recent low of 0.91 on June 24. This is the largest case rate since April 16.

The county's hospitalization total is also up to 86. Though that's less than the May 2020 high of 244, Prince George's had nine locals in the hospital as recently as the week of June 27. This is the steepest count since the week of May 2.

The positivity rate is similarly up from early summer, but it's starting to fall. It spiked to 6.79 percent on Aug. 19. That was a jump from the all-time low of 0.63 percent registered on June 24, and it was the steepest clip since Feb. 11. It was still below the overall maximum of 41.95 percent on May 2, 2020. The percent positivity has since dropped to 5.9.

About 50.49 percent of Prince George's County residents are fully vaccinated. Around 56.79 percent have gotten at least one dose of the immunization.

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