Ensure Children's Safety, California Requires Teachers And School Staff To Get COVID-19 Vaccination

COVID-19 vaccine illustrations. (Wikimedia Commons / bratislavskysamospravnykraj)

JAKARTA - California has become the first state in the United States (US) to require teachers and other school staff to be vaccinated, or undergo regular COVID-19 testing.

California State Governor Gavin Newsom said the move was aimed at ensuring the safety of children in the state.

Vaccination requirements in California schools follow similar directives applied to civil servants and health workers.

"We think this is an ongoing way to keep our schools open, and to address the major anxiety parents like me have for young children," Newsom said.

Driven by the Delta variant, the country's coronavirus cases have surged to their highest level in more than six months, according to a Reuters tally. Meanwhile, new sauces in the US have more than fivefold increased over the past month, with the seven-day average hitting 118,000 on Tuesday.

In response to this spike in infection cases, several California school districts have implemented requirements that reflect requirements now enforced at the state level.

In contrast, Texas Governor Greg Abbott's ban on the wearing of masks has been pushed back, after a Dallas County judge temporarily blocked the rule amid rising cases of COVID-19 infection in Texas.

Abbott and fellow Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida have faced challenges to orders across the state, preventing local officials from deciding whether to require masks to be worn.

Masks have become a divisive issue, often dividing the country along political lines, although there is almost universal agreement among health experts that they can limit the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile in Tennessee, more than a hundred anti-mask protesters booed masked people, including doctors and nurses, on Tuesday in Williamson County where the school board voted earlier to require masks for elementary school students.

Last week, the White House said nearly 90 percent of educators and school staff in the United States had been vaccinated against COVID-19. This is in line with the provisions of the COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

New York City last week became the first major US city to require proof of COVID-19 vaccination in restaurants, gyms and other businesses, starting next month.

In Texas, an interim order in Dallas issued Tuesday evening by Judge Tonya Parker, allows officials in the state's second most populous state to require masks indoors, though Abbott's July order opposes such a mandate. A hearing on Aug. 24 will determine whether to extend the interim order.

The top elected official in Dallas County, Judge Clay Jenkins, who requested the court order issued late Tuesday, said preventive measures such as wearing masks were needed to combat the surge in new COVID-19 cases.

Earlier on Tuesday, another Texas court granted an order at least until Monday allowing officials in the San Antonio and Bexar Counties to require masks to be worn in public schools.

Separately, Oregon and Washington state are also grappling with a spike in cases and hospitalizations, as the outbreak spreads beyond the epicenter in the Southern US.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced Wednesday that all employees of the state's executive branch must be vaccinated, and she's also reinstating the statewide indoor mask mandate.

To note, the latest wave of coronavirus is still the worst in the Southern states, based on new cases and hospitalizations per capita in recent weeks. Arkansas, Florida and Louisiana have all reported spikes in COVID-19 hospitalization records in recent days.