The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Businesses’ post-holiday vaccine mandate
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— A midday take on what’s happening in politics and how to have a sense of humor about it.*
*Ha. Haha. Hahah. Sniff. Haha. Sniff. Ha–breaks down crying hysterically.
NEWS THIS MORNING
Remember when Biden announced a vaccine requirement for businesses? Well, here that is:
The Biden administration just announced the details of its vaccine requirement for businesses with at least 100 employees.
From September?: Yes, Biden made the announcement in September. His administration has been hashing out the details ever since.
Who developed this rule: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
The requirement: Starting on Jan. 4, businesses with more than 100 employees must require workers to either get vaccinated or be tested for COVID-19 weekly.
^ But health care workers don’t have the testing option: “A second rule issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requires some 17 million health care workers to be vaccinated by the same deadline, Jan. 4, but with no option for weekly testing in lieu of vaccination. The rule covers all employees — clinical and non-clinical — at about 76,000 health care facilities that receive federal funding from Medicare or Medicaid.” (Via NPR’s Andrea Hsu) https://n.pr/3GMIWr3
The administration says it has strong legal footing for this requirement: “Senior administration officials said OSHA’s emergency temporary standard (ETS) to enact the mandate is ‘well within OSHA’s authority under the law and consistent with OSHA’s requirements to protect workers from health and safety hazards, including infectious diseases.’” (Via The Hill’s Alex Gangitano) https://bit.ly/31wXmLJ
How many workers this will cover: Roughly 84 million employees in the private sector https://nyti.ms/3ELIAik
Read the full OSHA rules, via CNBC: https://bit.ly/3ELANkF
CASE NUMBERS:
Coronavirus cases in the U.S.: 46,254,383
U.S. death toll: 750,435
Breakdown of the numbers: https://cnn.it/2UAgW3y
VACCINATION NUMBERS:
Total number of vaccinations administered in the U.S.: 425 million shots have been given.
Seven-day average of doses administered: An average of 1.13 million doses
For context: The U.S. population is roughly 331 million.
Breakdown of the numbers: https://bloom.bg/3iVTPLH
‘FLORIDA BUSINESSES, CITIES AND SCHOOLS RISK BIG FINES FOR DEFYING THE GOVERNOR WITH PANDEMIC MANDATES’:
Via The Washington Post’s Lori Rozsa: https://wapo.st/3nROlUW
It’s Thursday. I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send comments, story ideas and events for our radar to cmartel@thehill.com — and follow along on Twitter @CateMartel and Facebook.
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DEMS REACT TO TUESDAY’S ELECTIONS
Cue Patrick Star’s WEEWOO alarm:
Democrats are hitting the panic button after Tuesday’s weak performance in Virginia,…
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