[ad_1]
MADISON (WKOW) – The Department of Labor is drafting a rule that will require every business with 100 or more employees to require those employees to be vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID-19. Even though the details of the plan are not finalized, Wisconsin business leaders are already bracing for the potential effects.
“We have to be pro-science, and we have to be pro-data, and the two combined tell us that vaccines are the way to go,” said Zach Brandon, president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce. “But we also need to make sure that, in the pursuit of public health, we do not lose sight of public confidence, consumer confidence, business confidence, investment confidence and the economy in general.”
Brandon said the new rule would affect about 150,000 workers in the Dane County area. However, he said he doesn’t expect the tenure to change much for many workers.
“A large portion of those 150 are among the Top 10 Employers who have already publicly announced they are going to need vaccines – Epic, [Exact Sciences], you know, hospitals, ”he said.
Even in companies that don’t yet require vaccinations, many Dane County employees are already vaccinated. More than 80 percent of adults in the county are fully immunized.
“I think when the president came up with this idea, I guess Dane County wasn’t the target,” Brandon said. “I guess these are other parts of the country where they see half of what we see in a vaccination rate.”
Ajay Sethi, professor of epidemiology at UW-Madison, said the new mandate would have a big impact nationwide in slowing the spread of the virus.
“Because of the Delta variant and what it is doing now in unvaccinated people, this type of policy will really speed up the vaccination of more people,” he said. “So that’s a good idea.”
However, not everyone shares Sethi’s point of view.
“Employers should not be forced to monitor the immunization status of their employees,” said Kurt Bauer, president and CEO of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, in a written statement. “This proposal unfairly pits employers against their employees and will almost certainly cause workers to quit their jobs at a time when companies are already struggling to find workers.”
Brandon said he expects some workers to quit because of the new rule, but said he didn’t think it would be a large number. He also said he believed some workers might opt for the weekly testing exemption instead of leaving.
“Depending on how it goes, how easy it is to do and how timely it is, it can be a counterweight to massive resignations,” Brandon said.
The Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are still drafting the final text for the rule, and Brandon said he would wait to hear the details of the plan before deciding whether to support it.
Even once that happens, Brandon said he knows there will be no consensus on the rule.
“I guess there will be lawsuits and a lot of other things that will happen,” he said. “The risk in all of this is that it becomes another dividing line for something we should all agree on, which is that vaccines are the solution and the only way out of this pandemic.”
The Republican National Committee said Thursday it plans to sue the Biden administration once the rule goes into effect, and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said he will use “all available legal options” to stop the warrant.
[ad_2]
Source link