HAMPTON, Va. — Six Hampton Roads cities require their employees to take regular COVID-19 tests or show proof of vaccination, and some city leaders say they've already seen benefits.
Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Williamsburg announced the requirements in August, with an implementation date of Oct. 1.
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) reports 77.7% of all Virginia adults are fully vaccinated. Five out of the six cities report higher vaccination rates than the statewide average.
"People here want to keep themselves safe, their families safe, and their coworkers safe," said Robin McCormick, Hampton communications strategist. "We're suggesting you get vaccinated and want you to be safe and we're modeling that, we're not telling you to do something we're not going to do."
Hampton reports about 87% of its workforce is fully vaccinated. City leaders said 1,953 employees provided proof of vaccination, while 289 workers have agreed to be subject to weekly testing.
Hampton's percentage is the highest among the group of Hampton Roads cities with more than 1,000 workers.
The City of Williamsburg reports all of its nearly 200 workers are fully vaccinated.
Following Hampton, Newport News and Portsmouth report 84% of city employees are fully vaccinated.
Karen Witherspoon, the Newport News human resources director, said the requirements have been very beneficial to keep people at work, keep employees healthy, and prevent an outbreak of cases.
"I’ve seen many, many times where so many people have been exposed at the same time, but having 84% of our employees vaccinated means they can still come to work unless they’re showing symptoms," Witherspoon said.
She said it's advantageous to know which employees are vaccinated and which are taking regular COVID tests in order to prevent the spread of the virus throughout the workplace.
"We want to do everything we can to stay ahead of the curve, and I believe we’ve done that," Witherspoon said.
McCormick said limiting COVID-19 exposures and limiting severe illnesses with a higher-than-average vaccination rate has helped keep essential city services available and functioning.
"If COVID wipes out an entire fire station, suddenly we're looking at having a real challenge of meeting the needs of the people in an emergency," McCormick said. "Our citizens are going to be very unhappy if half of the trash collection people are out, or if it snows and we can't clear the roads.
Norfolk reports 80% of its workforce - about 3,367 out of 4,222 workers - are fully vaccinated.
This rate is lower than the percentage of all Norfolk adults who are fully vaccinated (82%, per VDH), but higher than the state average.
Suffolk reports 75% of its employees are fully vaccinated, with the rest subject to COVID testing every other week.
Chesapeake and Virginia Beach do not require COVID testing or vaccinations for city workers, and both cities said they do not track this information.
McCormick, of Hampton, said many city employees were vaccinated early while volunteering at the first clinics.
"A lot of us, then, have that booster and are even more protected, so I think that makes a big difference going into the omicron variant [spread]," she said.
CITY EMPLOYEE VACCINATION STATISTICS:
Hampton:
- 1,953 employees provided proof of full vaccination
- 289 employees are subject to regular COVID-19 testing
- 37 employees have temporary exemptions for medical or religious reasons, after review by the Human Resources department
Newport News:
- 2,881 employees are fully vaccinated or partially vaccinated
- 545 employees are subject to weekly testing. (Partially vaccinated workers are not subject to weekly testing.)
Norfolk:
- 3,367 employees are fully vaccinated
- 838 employees are unvaccinated
- 17 employees are partially vaccinated
Portsmouth:
- 1,455 employees are fully vaccinated
- 262 employees are subject to biweekly testing
Suffolk:
- 1,095 city employees are fully vaccinated
- 367 employees are unvaccinated
- 7 are partially vaccinated