New Orleans RTA to mandate vaccines for all employees

[marmar]

New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) will require its more than 800 employees to be vaccinated by providing valid proof of vaccination. The mandate goes into effect July 26 with unvaccinated employees required to receive their first shot no later than July 29 and a second dose as instructed by the vaccination administrator.

“Providing a safe environment for our RTA employees and transit riders is the board’s top concern,” said Flozell Daniels, Jr., chair, RTA Board of Commissioners. “Since March 2020, we’ve implemented data-informed and community responsive policies to mitigate disparate impacts and best protect all members of our team and the riding public from exposure to COVID-19 and its variants - known and unknown.”

CEO Alex Wiggins says the vaccine mandate is being implemented “out of an abundance of caution.”

“This decision was made to protect the health and safety of our transit operators, administrative employees and our ridership as the region sees increased COVID-19 transmission rates among the unvaccinated individuals,” said Wiggins. ..........(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/safety-security/article/21231699/new-orleans-rta-to-mandate-vaccines-for-all-employees

[localroger]

1. Ms LaToya ain't taking shit from nobody

After becoming one of the worst and earliest COVID hotspots NOLA has consistently been more strict than the state as a whole, and being a very blue parish (county) NOLA has pretty much put up with this. The more Republican suburbs (I live in one) are howling but LJ is being backed up by Dem governor John Bel Edwards instead of undermined as in many other red states (*cough* Flori-DUH *cough*). Thousands of lives have almost certainly been saved by this stance and I won't be surprised if the Delta surge has NOLA going back to mask mandates and capacity restrictions very soon.