San Diego City Council lifts COVID-19 emergency, city employees mandate to wax

The San Diego City Council on Tuesday voted to end the city’s COVID-19 state of emergency and a mandate to vaccinate city employees in late February.

Mayor Todd Gloria, City Attorney Mara Elliott and City Councilman Marnie Von Wilpert released a joint statement on Monday proposing to end the state of emergency that has been in place since March 17, 2020 under then-Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s administration. Since then, it has been repeatedly extended and expanded by the San Diego City Council.

“In line with the decision of the State of California to lift the state of emergency due to COVID-19 effective February 28, 2023, the City of San Diego will seek to implement similar measures as conditions requiring a local declaration of a state of emergency steadily improve.” — Gloria . This is according to a joint statement by Elliot and von Wilpert.

“As part of this action, we will also end our mandate to vaccinate City employees due to a decrease in COVID-19 positive cases and hospitalizations, and that 91% of City employees have been vaccinated.

“We are in this improved state because, overall, the people of San Diegan have contributed to the fight against the pandemic by getting vaccinated and following public health guidelines,” the statement said.

On November 29, 2021, the City Council adopted a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy requiring current and newly hired or appointed City employees, elected officials, board members, and volunteers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

At the time of the implementation of the mandate, the county’s COVID-19 incidence rate among under-vaccinated residents was three times higher than among fully vaccinated residents, and the hospitalization rate among under-vaccinated residents was six times higher than among fully vaccinated residents. The City of San Diego’s employee vaccination rate was 80.6%.

As of Tuesday, the county’s COVID-19 incidence rate among under-vaccinated residents is twice that of fully vaccinated residents, and the hospitalization rate among under-vaccinated residents is twice that of fully vaccinated residents. The vaccination rate of city employees is 91%.

The mandate was challenged in court by the ReOpen San Diego Citizens’ Group, which argued that the mandate kept “an entire class of individuals from meaningful participation in city government” by barring unvaccinated city officials and volunteers from attending city meetings or businesses in the city. building.

By March 2022, the city’s employee vaccination rate had increased to over 90%, allowing the city to accommodate approximately 790 religious or medical exemptions from its mandatory vaccination policy. City departments have responded to these employees by arranging weekly free COVID-19 testing in the workplace. Employees who refused to comply with the weekly testing regime were subject to dismissal.

Governor Gavin Newsom announced on October 17, 2022 that he would lift the COVID-19 state of emergency on February 28, revealing that “California has the tools we need to continue fighting COVID-19, including vaccines and boosters, testing, treatment.” and other mitigation measures such as camouflage and ventilation of premises,” the city report says.

Gloria, Elliott and von Wilpert thanked first responders, essential workers and medical professionals for taking on the challenge of keeping the community safe and trying to limit the spread of the virus.

“We will continue to take COVID-19 with the seriousness it requires, but so far we are pleased with the success of our efforts to protect the health and safety of our employees and the public,” they said.