On Monday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear held a COVID-19 news conference as cases continue to spread across the commonwealth.
Beshear said the Delta variant is “spreading like wildfire.” During the conference, Beshear said twice that the state would not mandate COVID-19 vaccines for state employees.
“I'm not currently considering any vaccine mandate for state employees,” he said. “Though what we have done today is if you are unvaccinated, you are more likely to contract and spread this virus to the public, to those that you work with. So in, certainly, our front-facing health care settings, we are increasing the frequency of testing for the unvaccinated.”
However, immediately following the news conference, a statement released by the governor’s office said all state employees and contractors working in state-run health care facilities and veterans homes will be required to be vaccinated by October 1st.
In the release, Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander, who joined the Governor on Monday, said that universal masking will be required in all state-run health care facilities, including veterans nursing homes, effective tomorrow, Aug. 3.
The release also said, “In addition, following the recommendation of the Long-Term Care Task Force, the cabinet will require all contractors and state employees working in these state-operated facilities be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 1, unless there is a religious or medical reason they cannot be vaccinated.”
Vaccinated employees will not be required to get tested every week. Employees with medical or religious exemptions will not be required to get the vaccine.
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