Wear your mask or verify your COVID shots. It’s a reasonable ask of WA employees | Editorial

Relaxing mask mandates on the honor system works really well if people are honorable.

But if they aren’t, we’ve got a problem.

If enough unvaccinated people choose to forego wearing masks in public settings or at large private gatherings, there is a solid chance another wave of COVID could hit the Tri-Cities.

And while Tri-City vaccination rates are improving, according to the latest data from the state health department only 32% of people in Benton County are fully vaccinated and only 24% in Franklin County,

While encouraging, those numbers don’t instill complete confidence that the Tri-Cities is safe — just yet.

That’s why we agree with the latest rules from the governor’s office and the Washington Department of Labor & Industries requiring employers to confirm their employees are vaccinated before they are allowed to go without a mask in the workplace.

Most of us feel comfortable that school children need an assortment of shots before mixing with their fellow students. This isn’t all that different.

Yet we know plenty of people will see this new requirement as an invasion of privacy, and that a number of business owners would like the flexibility to handle the mask issue themselves without the state interfering.

However, state and federal laws require that employers provide a safe workplace. If people are expected to be with co-workers for eight hours a day, is the honor system good enough?

Hate to say it, but no it’s not.

It’s one thing to use the honor system for customers. While we hope everyone who isn’t yet fully vaccinated will continue to wear their masks while shopping, chances are there will be many who won’t.

But at least people typically aren’t spending all day shopping in a store. They are in and out.

The workplace is different.

If employers are going to loosen social distancing requirements and allow vaccinated workers to go without masks, they should know for sure who is and isn’t vaccinated — especially if the jobs entail customer service.

In order to get that confirmation, L&I is requiring that employees either sign a document verifying they have received their shots or provide proof of getting the vaccine.

Arguments by those upset by this requirement say HIPAA rules prohibit employers from asking about their vaccination status, but that is actually not the case.

HIPAA, short for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, protects people’s health information from being shared without their consent. But the law only applies to industries related to health care.

According to a recent story in the Washington Post, federal laws allow businesses, airlines and other employers to ask workers and customers about their vaccination status.

In addition, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has confirmed that employers can ask employees if they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. But it cautioned against asking an employee a question like, “Why aren’t you vaccinated?” That could potentially cross a line with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

But L&I is not requiring employers to find out why employees did or did not get a vaccine. The agency only cares if workers are vaccinated — and only then if their place of work is loosening social distancing and masks requirements.

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its new guidelines earlier in the month saying that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks, it should have helped convince more people to hurry up and get their shots.

But vaccine hesitancy is still an issue. Some people are genuinely fearful of the COVID vaccine and don’t trust it yet. Others have religious or physical reasons why they can’t get it.

Still, there are others who won’t get the vaccine because they don’t like being told what to do — especially by the government.

Verifying an employee’s vaccination status could be awkward for many business owners, and we hope that as vaccination rates climb the governor and L&I are willing to revisit the issue.

But in the meantime, safety for the majority must be the priority.

And that’s especially true in the Tri-Cities where most people have yet to get their COVID shots.

This story was originally published May 26, 2021 at 12:21 PM.