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CORONAVIRUS

McKee not planning to require vaccines for state workers

The Rhode Island governor says he will await federal guidance before deciding whether to mandate masks for K-12 students

Rhode Island Governor Daniel J. McKee speaks at a news conference on Tuesday.Edward Fitzpatrick

PROVIDENCE — Governor Daniel J. McKee on Tuesday said he is not planning to mandate vaccinations for state employees, and he was awaiting federal guidance before deciding whether to recommend masks for school children.

Soon after McKee’s weekly new conference, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed course on some masking guidelines, recommending that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the coronavirus is surging. The CDC recommended indoor masks for all teachers, staff, students and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.

On Monday, the nation’s most populous state (California) and its largest city (New York) announced that they would require hundreds of thousands of government workers to get vaccines or face weekly testing.

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But on Tuesday, McKee said, “As far as mandating people (get vaccinated) in the state right now, whether they are state employees or not, that is not something we are planning to do.”

In explaining that decision, he said, “I think that we have been very successful without the mandates.” But, he added, “I’m never saying never.”

McKee emphasized that safety remains the top priority. “If I feel as though, and our Department of Health feels as though, safety is being somehow compromised,” he said, “there is nothing that we would take off the table.”

McKee said the state would support local governments if they wanted to make vaccines mandatory for their employees. But, he said, “Before they make decisions, we would love to be able to kind of consult with them in terms of making sure that their decisions are based on the real data that we have.”

Rhode Island has been a national leader in reopening its economy, McKee said. “We never want to be in a position of taking two steps forward and one step backwards, unless there was a real reason to do that,” he said. “I don’t see that reason right now based on the data that I’ve seen.”

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McKee said he was hoping CDC would take into consideration that states such as Rhode Island have followed federal guidance and “we don’t pull a fire alarm if in fact there is no fire.”

“Right now, from all the data I have seen, we don’t have a fire in the state,” McKee said. “The data that I am seeing is telling us that we are in good shape.”

But data released Tuesday shows Rhode Island has moved from “moderate transmission” to “substantial transition” of COVID-19, with 60.6 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days. “Moderate transmission” is considered 10 to 49.99 cases per 100,000 residents, while “substantial transmission” is 50 to 99.99 cases per 100,000, according to CDC guidelines.

The state Department of Health reported 94 new cases on Tuesday, and no new deaths, while 24 people are hospitalized with the virus.

While the state is seeing an “uptick” in new cases, McKee said, “The overwhelming majority of new cases are those who are not vaccinated. I want to repeat that again: People who are getting infected and hospitalized are the individuals that have chosen not to get vaccinated.”

He said 18 of 22 people hospitalized with COVID-19 earlier this week had not been vaccinated.

“That is why it’s crucial that Rhode Islanders get vaccinated,” McKee said. “Vaccinations keep us safe, they keep us out of the hospital, they protect our family, and it allows our economy to grow at a rate that’s nationally recognized as one of the top states in the country in reopening our economy.”

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He noted vaccine supply is not limited as it was earlier in the pandemic.

“Right now, anyone who wants to get vaccinated in the state of Rhode Island can get vaccinated,” McKee said. “Now is the time to double down on vaccination efforts across all age groups in the state, in particular in our high school age and also our middle school age groups.”

He said the state will soon come out with a plan to give every high school and middle school student a chance to get the vaccine.

McKee said 78.6 percent of adults in Rhode Island are at least partially vaccinated, and 72 percent are fully vaccinated. “We saw the vaccine demand increase week over week for the first time since May,” he said. “That’s good news.”

But, he said, as many as 250,000 residents remain unvaccinated. “There is a large group of people in the State of Rhode Island that have chosen not to get vaccinated,” he said.

McKee said that even Fox News commentators are encouraging people to get vaccinated because they are seeing COVID-19 rates rise across the country. “We are fortunate here in Rhode Island,” he said. “But we can still do better.”



Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.