POLITICS

Gov. Tony Evers weighs a vaccine mandate for state employees or weekly testing for the unvaccinated

Molly Beck
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gov. Tony Evers said Monday he's mulling whether to require that state employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 or unvaccinated employees be tested for the virus each week. 

Evers has been mulling whether to mandate vaccinations for state employees for weeks. Last week, Evers administration officials notified employees they have until Sept. 9 to disclose whether they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 by entering that information and attaching related documentation in the state's human resources system, which is used to submit timesheets and other personnel-related tasks. 

Failure to disclose "may result in disciplinary action," according to the new state policy.

"The vaccination information will be treated as confidential medical records and maintained separately for each employee as required by (Americans with Disabilities Act)," Department of Administration spokeswoman Tatyana Warrick said.

"Information regarding whether a staff member has submitted their vaccination status may be accessed by agency HR staff or other agency staff with a business need to know, and others authorized by law."

The policy applies to state employees, contractors and interns within Wisconsin’s executive branch agencies "who are required, under any circumstances, to be physically present in a state facility."

Evers said at a news conference in Milwaukee that after the Sept. 9 deadline, "we can figure out how many people have not been vaccinated and determine whether it be a mandate or testing every week for those that aren’t."

The potential policies are being considered as Wisconsin experiences a new surge of COVID-19 cases as the more transmissible delta variant of COVID-19 rips through the state where just about half the population is vaccinated, which substantially lowers the risk of hospitalization and death for infected residents.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin is nearly 1,700 as of Monday — the highest since late January before vaccines were widely available. 

Alison Dirr of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

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Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.