NC To Require Vaccination Proof From State Workers: Gov. Cooper

NORTH CAROLINA — As the number of new COVID cases continue to rise throughout the state, North Carolina officials are turning up the pressure on those who remain unvaccinated. Beginning Sept. 1, state workers will be asked to provide verification that they've been vaccinated, or face weekly testing and mandatory mask policy, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday.

The new policy announcement comes as the state reported 3,268 new cases in the span of a day, a daily rise that hasn't been seen in the state since February. As of July 29, at least 1,141 people were hospitalized, a doubling of hospitalization rates in two weeks.

The new vaccination verification policy, which Cooper will sign into effect through an executive order, is expected to affect about 50,000 state employees, he said.

In a separate measure, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is also requiring that all healthcare workers in state operated healthcare facilities get fully vaccinated. Currently, an estimated 76 percent of those healthcare workers are fully vaccinated, DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen said.

"Our trends have turned sharply in the wrong direction," Cooper said. "Unvaccinated people are driving this resurgence and getting themselves and other people sick," he said.

"People who are unvaccinated make up most all of our cases where people are getting sick and hospitalized. The Delta variant of COVID is even more contagious to those who are not vaccinated. It doesn’t matter your age or race. If you are not vaccinated, you are at great risk," he added.

The new Executive Order directs North Carolina's state government cabinet agencies to verify their employee's vaccination status. Cooper said it's a move he hopes private businesses and other state agencies will adopt, too.

"Many businesses are going a step further and requiring their employees to get vaccinated, and I applaud that," Cooper said.

North Carolina this week has also updated guidance for K-12 schools, recommending they align their mask policies with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's call for universal masking.

"In accordance with the CDC, we recommend that all K-12 schools require masks for all their students and teachers," Cooper said.

As of Thursday, 57 percent of the state's adult population was considered fully vaccinated, according to DHHS.

Here's what DHHS said those who are unvaccinated should do:

• Wear a mask indoors in all public settings
• Physically distance at least 6 feet in all public settings
• Wash hands often
• Do not gather with unvaccinated people who you do not live with
• If you do gather, stay outside and keep at least 6 feet apart
• Do not travel

Everyone in the state, regardless of vaccination status, should continue to wear a mask in the following places, according to DHHS:

• Healthcare settings
• Public transportation
• Large crowded indoor venues
• Indoor venues with children present

"The takeaway from all of this is that there's only one way out of this pandemic, and that is vaccination," Cohen said.