I had previously thought that reporters, at least good reporters, weren’t supposed to simply accept what they have been told by government, but to ask questions. Apparently, I was wrong about that.
Only a third of Philly city employees and half of Pa. state health workers have reported being vaccinated
City officials believe the number vaccinated is “far higher” than reported, citing difficulty with getting workers who don’t routinely use computers at work to upload their vaccination cards.
by Justine McDaniel and Erin McCarthy | Friday, September 24, 2021 | 5:41 PM EDT
Most city and state employees who were asked to get vaccinated against the coronavirus have not yet reported doing so, according to numbers released this week.
Only 31% of Philadelphia city employees have provided proof of vaccination as of this week, according to the city, though all were told to be immunized against the coronavirus by Sept. 1 or begin double-masking at work.
Translation: the rules aren’t being enforced. If people had to start double-masking, starting over three weeks ago, if they were not vaccinated, those who were already vaccinated would have taken the effort to get their vaccine cards entered into the system, to keep from having to wear that repugnant face diaper!
And just under 50% of Pennsylvania’s 23,000 workers in health and congregate care facilities had provided proof of vaccination as of Friday, said a Wolf administration spokesperson. The state mandated that state health and congregate care workers be fully vaccinated by Sept. 7 or undergo weekly testing.
Odd how the Inquirer didn’t mention that all health care workers in the city had to be fully vaccinated by October 15th. While there were potential exemptions for medical or religious reasons, there was no ‘get tested’ option.
Philadelphia officials believe the number of city workers vaccinated is “far higher” than reported, citing difficulty with getting employees who don’t routinely use computers at work to upload their vaccination cards. In Philadelphia, 69% of all adults are fully vaccinated, which would indicate the rate among the city’s more than 25,000 workers is likely higher than reported.
Is this a reasonable belief? Since city workers face greater and more annoying restrictions — double-masking and weekly testing — wouldn’t those who were vaccinated but hadn’t filed their cards have done so, to avoid those odious restrictions? I suppose it could be true . . . if supervisors were not enforcing the masking/testing requirements.
As for Philadelphia workers, those who aren’t vaccinated are required to wear a cloth face mask over a surgical mask while working. The city has lists identifying all such employees; Garrow said supervisors are notified and required to ensure employees are double-masking.
There was much more to the article than I quoted, but nowhere in the article did the reporters raise the question I asked: why would already vaccinated workers not report that, to rid themselves of the doubled masks? Nor did I see any questioning of how strictly supervisors were enforcing the orders; would unvaccinated supervisors have been willing to ignore the requirements for their subordinates, so that they could get away with it as well?
Good reporters would have taken the information they were given, and then head out onto the streets, to check out city work crews and see for themselves. As far as I can tell, that did not happen, or, if it did, such was never mentioned in the article.