Friday marked the day that any unvaccinated home health aides would no longer be allowed to work with patients.
The mandate from Governor Kathy Hochul includes anyone working in assisted living homes, hospice care, treatment centers and AIDS home care programs.
86% of workers that do home health care have had at least one dose of the vaccine.
71.3% are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
One of the largest organizations, Visiting Nurse Service of New York, has a 97% vaccination rate among its staff.
Representatives for home health care organizations urge Hochul to phase in vaccinations and provide emergency funding. They don’t believe out of state or foreign workers can help the potential staff crisis.
It is unclear if workers will be fired or laid off the same way they were in hospitals.
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