Henrico County now requiring masks for unvaccinated employees, visitors
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Henrico County general government officials this week tightened the county’s masking policy, in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases related to the delta variant.
The county now requires all unvaccinated employees and visitors to county facilities to wear masks or face-coverings at all times, according to Henrico Chief of Staff Cari Tretina. It’s also strongly recommending (but not requiring) that vaccinated employees and guests do the same, she said.
And though the county does not plan to mandate that its employees get the vaccine – the way Richmond did this week and Gov. Ralph Northam did for state employees Thursday – Henrico is offering pop-up vaccination opportunities in county facilities for employees and their family members, Tretina told the Citizen.
“As public servants and a large employer in the region, we want to be as safe as possible for our workforce, their families, and public,” she said. “Masks and vaccine are the best mitigation tools we have to prevent further community spread. We will continue to monitor the data and health guidance as new information is available.”
Northam Thursday said that he will require all state government employees to be vaccinated by Sept. 1. Those who choose not to meet that deadline or who refuse to be vaccinated must instead take a weekly COVID-19 test and provide proof of negative test results, he said.
“We all need to understand that delta is different than the COVID strain we were dealing with earlier this year,” he said. “The only way we can beat this virus is vaccination.”
Northam said that Virginians who are eligible to be vaccinated but who have not yet done so should feel confident by the success of the vaccines in the eight months since they've been used.
“Maybe you’re worried about side effects, maybe you wanted to wait to see how other people reacted to the vaccine,” he said, “but I hope that you will listen to me and hear me now. The time for waiting is over. Millions of people around the world have been vaccinated, and we are fine.”
