The city of Mission has extended its COVID-19 vaccine incentive program to city employees as cases in the region continue to increase and several employees have had to call out due to exposure.
held a Community Incentive Vaccination Clinic at the Mission Event Center on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. (Michael Elizalde | Grants Administrator, Mission)
The Mission City Council approved a program to offer $100 gift cards to employees who are vaccinated against COVID-19, an extension of the city’s existing THRIVE program that already offers a gift to residents who have been vaccinated.
Of the city’s 780 employees, about 100 were not vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Monday, City Manager Randy Perez reported to the city council.
But with the increasing number of cases, Perez said they’re hoping the employees think about obtaining at least one dose.
Additionally, he noted that the increase in cases included several of their staff, reporting that 77 were out due to COVID-19 on Monday, either because they were exposed or because they had tested positive.
“So we are averaging approximately about 10 a day,” Perez said. “Because of that, we did start flex scheduling with some of our employees.”
The city also adopted other safety protocols such as setting a maximum of two employees allowed in a vehicle and requiring those employees to wear a mask while in the vehicle. They have also distributed masks to all departments to encourage employees to wear masks.
“We are currently sanitizing our facilities on a daily basis,” Perez added. “Obviously, we sanitize any department that does give us any notification of any positive. We sanitize that department immediately and so we are continuing the social distancing and also the safety measures from the CDC.”
held a Community Incentive Vaccination Clinic at the Mission Event Center on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. (Michael Elizalde | Grants Administrator, Mission)
They are also requiring employees to take a leave of 10 days if they have tested positive but are allowing them to test for COVID after the fifth day.
“We do have them return with a negative result from the test itself and so we are looking at those modifications for our employees right now,” Perez said, adding that the city will facilitate testing for their employees with one of their testing partners.
To qualify for a gift card, employees must meet two requirements:
- Must be an active employee at the time of distribution
- Must provide proof of any COVID-19 vaccine dose obtained
“The goal for us is to have all 100% of citizens and 100% of our city employees vaccinated and prevent the spread of the virus. That’s the goal,” Mayor Armando O’Cana said Tuesday. “But we do respect the right to say no, if they don’t want to get vaccinated and so forth. That’s why we’re providing the incentive to see if maybe we could prompt that person to be able to cover them.”
