Albany, N.Y. Syracuse, N.Y. - Governor Hochul says progress is being made towards getting more health care workers statewide vaccinated against COVID-19.
The governor announced yesterday 92-percent of hospital staff are compliant with the requirement that they protect themselves from getting sick. Also, 89-percent of staff members at adult care facilities and 92-percent of employees at nursing homes in the Empire State have already rolled up their sleeves and received a COVID-19 vaccination. Prior to the mandate, an estimated 84-percent of workers had gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
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Health care workers had until Monday to be vaccinated or risk the possibility of losing their jobs. They have until Oct. 8th to get at least one dose of a vaccine in order to return to work.
As expected, the COVID-19 vaccination mandate is already impacting staffing levels at hospitals in Syracuse. Officials with Saint Joseph's Hospital say 122 employees missed the immunization deadline and have been suspended without pay. They are backing off on surgical services to get by for now.
Upstate University Hospital is also cutting back surgeries. They have not shared how many staff members refused to get vaccinated.
At Crouse, officials say that seven employees left the organization as a result of the mandate. Officials also say that the mandate itself is not causing service disruptions but they are canceling some elective inpatient surgical procedures because of the workforce shortage and high patient volumes.
Loretto Health and Rehabilitation, which is the largest nursing home in Syracuse, is withholding data for now.
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