95% of City of Hamilton Workers Report COVID-19 Vaccine Status by Verification Deadline – Hamilton | The Canadian News

On the last day that Hamilton city staff were required to report their COVID-19 vaccination status according to a board-approved verification policy, only 95 percent disclosed their status on Monday, according to the center’s director of emergency operations (EOC).

EOC chief Jason Thorne said that of those who have submitted the information, 92 percent say they are fully vaccinated.

“All employees who have not provided proof of both doses of their vaccine will enter the city’s rapid COVID-19 testing program, which begins Thursday this week,” Thorne said in an update on Nov. 1.

“Therefore, staff in such cases must take their exam from home and submit their exam results online every Monday and Thursday, regardless of their shift schedule or where their workplace is.”

Late last week, the city warned residents of service outages amid five percent of staff failed to report their status by the November deadline, approved by the city during a special meeting late. of August.

Originally, city employees were supposed to disclose their status on September 15 and those who did not have an injection were to participate in an educational session and receive a first dose by September 30.

There are exemptions for those not vaccinated with a medical or human rights claim.

“As the city implements this next phase of the vaccination verification policy, we anticipate that there is the possibility of some service interruptions related to employees who have not yet fully complied with this policy,” Thorne said.

The service most likely to be severely affected amid expected staff disruptions is the HSR bus service.

On Friday, the city warned passengers about modified routes and schedules after Nov. 4, as up to 10 percent of bus operators in Hamilton would potentially be in default.

Maureen Cosyn Heath, the city’s transit director, estimated that 10 percent represent between 70 and 90 drivers whose status remains unknown.

ATU Local 107 President Eric Tuck says he suspects that number will decrease in the coming days. The union boss says part of the problem has been replacing drivers who retired during the pandemic.

“We have not been able to train the operators so quickly and get them up and running. So that’s part of the shortage, ”Tuck told CHML 900 Good Morning Hamilton.

“Like I said 90 percent on Friday, I’m sure we’ve probably gone up about 95 percent. Yesterday I saw several operators come to collect their test kits. “

Thorne expects the number of supported drivers to be much higher on Thursday.

“I encourage customers to download the HSR Now app on their devices, which will provide them with up-to-date information and also to monitor our social media channels for service level updates,” said Thorne.

Over the weekend, Hamilton’s health partners put just under 2,200 doses of vaccine in arms and on Friday it recorded the highest intake at 984. That number is still below the monthly average of daily doses administered through October, which recorded 1,068.

Vaccines were down about 28 percent month-over-month compared to the September daily average of 1,488, and daily weekly injections were down 6.91 percent.

As of Sunday, 81.3 percent of eligible Hamiltonians 12 and older have been fully vaccinated, while 85.2 percent have received at least a single dose. The city still lags behind the provincial average, which sees 84.5 percent fully vaccinated and 89.4 percent with at least one dose of vaccine.

There are 31 health regions in Ontario with a better vaccination rate than Hamilton.

Hamilton’s COVID-19 daily case rate overall held steady for the past three days with the seven-day average on record at 14 as of Monday, one more than the rate reported on Friday.

The city’s active cases fell from 131 reported on Friday to just 117 as of Monday. More than 53 percent of active Hamilton cases are among those under the age of 30.

The percentage positivity rate remains at 1.70 percent, which is lower than the provincial average of 1.8 percent as of Sunday.

There are seven reported outbreaks linked to a total of 37 cases as of Sunday. The largest is at the Lean and Fit Elite gym in Ancaster with 13 cases: seven among staff and six among clients.

Three outbreaks closed over the weekend at Limeridge Mall Cinnabon and a couple of schools: Sir Wilfrid Laurier Elementary School and Living Hope Christian School.

COVID-19 hospitalizations saw little change from Monday to Friday and the city’s two networks reported a total of 29 patients again as of Monday.

There are two fewer intensive care (ICU) cases as of Friday with just nine combined between the two hospital agencies.

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