Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Thursday doubled down on his opposition to vaccine mandates even as he encouraged Virginians to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
In his covid-19 action plan, Youngkin (R) expanded a limited state of emergency and other measures put in place by his physician predecessor, Democrat Ralph Northam, but rejected actions that public policy experts say curb the spread of the virus.
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The three-page plan aims to expand access to vaccines, alleviate the strain on hospitals and health-care workers and prioritize testing in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
The plan was “designed to give Virginians the tools and resources needed to make the best decisions for their families, strengthen our hospital systems, and ensure a strong recovery as we encounter new challenges associated with the pandemic that has become part of our everyday life,” Youngkin said in a statement.
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He also emphasized his opposition to vaccine mandates, saying his administration will "[empower] Virginians with choices, not mandates.”
Within hours of taking office Saturday, Youngkin rescinded Northam’s requirement for masks in K-12 schools and his vaccinate-or-test mandate for employees of state agencies, including public colleges and universities. Schools have promised to fight the policy making masks optional and parents have mounted at least one legal challenge.
The approach is in keeping with what Democrats and left-leaning activists say was how he ran his campaign and how he has made appointments so far.
“I’m encouraged that the governor is taking action to deal with covid, building on policies of the previous administration, and worried that he’s not willing to take the steps that are really needed to keep our kids in school and keep our families safe,” said Del. Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax), who works in public health-care consulting and is married to a teacher.
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Youngkin’s vaccine plan calls for more outreach to “disproportionately unvaccinated communities,” 120 vaccine events and mobile units, as well as “working with governors across the country to identify and utilize best practices on vaccine education.”
In the plan, he notes that data shows people who are vaccinated are four times less likely to be hospitalized than those who are not. Youngkin has said he and his family are vaccinated and boosted.
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Virginia ranks 10th among states, with about 70 percent of the population vaccinated, which puts it slightly behind Maryland and slightly ahead of the District, according to a Becker’s Hospital Review analysis of federal data.
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Parts of rural northwest, southwest and southside Virginia generally have lower vaccination rates than urban centers of Northern Virginia and the Richmond area, state data shows.
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Nearly 16,000 people in Virginia have died of the coronavirus, and the seven-day rolling average of daily new cases per 100,000 is down about 25 percent since Wednesday, which is a slower rate of decline than in Maryland or D.C., which felt the omicron variant wave earlier.
Youngkin said 1.6 million Virginians are unvaccinated, but it’s unclear whether the estimate includes everyone old enough to get the shot; the state population is about 8.5 million.
LaTwyla Mathia, executive director of the left-leaning advocacy group Progress Virginia, praised the attention on getting more people vaccinated, but favors a mandate.
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“Most people who wanted to get vaccinated already are,” she said. “More vaccination availability is great but it’s only going to go so far without a mandate.”
The limited state of emergency Youngkin continued expires Feb. 21.
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The order waives certain regulations to increase hospital bed capacity, and allows out-of-state nurses and health-care providers to practice in Virginia, including through telemedicine. Youngkin will also deploy the state’s supply of personal protective equipment and encourage blood donation.
State Sen. Siobhan S. Dunnavant (R-Henrico), an obstetrician-gynecologist, said that she had not studied the governor’s order in detail but that she was pleased to see him taking steps to help overwhelmed hospitals.
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“It’s just all hands on deck,” she said. “It’s just really unleashing a lot of the obstacles that make it hard for hospitals to pivot quickly. … It’s just letting them have access to expanding beds if they need to, bringing in staff from out of state, whatever they have to do right to make sure Virginians get the care they need.”
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In recent months, doctors and hospital administrators have described crisis conditions where staff are overwhelmed with patients who are very ill with the coronavirus and seeking care for other acute conditions, while dealing with too few nurses and workers to safely open all available beds.
The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA) said the omicron variant surge and record-breaking hospitalizations strained the health-care delivery system and the organization thanked Youngkin for signing the order, which came 10 days after Northam’s order.
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“An effective hospital response to this surge necessitates support from the public and partners in government to ensure continuity of operations so that patients can receive the care they need,” Sean T. Connaughton, VHHA president and CEO, said in a statement. “Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order is a welcome and necessary step to grant important flexibilities to front line providers and Virginia hospitals as they continue to battle this pandemic surge.”
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Youngkin’s plan discourages asymptomatic people from testing and urges healthy individuals with less-severe symptoms to stay home and use discretion on testing, which is in line with CDC guidance.
He also plans to direct his nominee for secretary of health and human resources, John Littel, to expedite pending orders of rapid tests and work with the White House to accelerate distribution of federally acquired tests to Virginia localities.
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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (D) said this week that White House plans to distribute rapid tests to residences diverted state orders for test kits. It is unclear whether the same phenomenon is occurring in Virginia.
Hogan said Thursday that the delay was resolved after calls with Jeff Zients, the White House’s coronavirus strategy coordinator, and Tom Inglesby, the nation’s new coronavirus testing coordinator. A vendor who had previously cut Maryland’s rapid-test order in half last week told the state late Wednesday that the order would be delivered in full and 800,000 tests would be on the way.
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Youngkin’s plan also says the state health commissioner, currently Colin Greene, will write guidelines directing limited rapid tests to exposed students who need to stay in school, essential health-care workers, people over 65 and those with serious medical conditions.
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Del. Mark D. Sickles (D-Fairfax), who chaired the House’s health committee when Democrats had the majority, said he was glad to see Youngkin using the governor’s authority to address the pandemic — something Republicans chafed at under Northam.
“It is ironic, given all the grief Ralph Northam took,” Sickles said.
Cautioning that he had yet to read the details of Youngkin’s plan, Sickles said he was glad to see the new governor clearing the way for hospitals to empower more people to treat patients and administer vaccines.
Northam had done something similar, Sickles said, but “the hospitals still need the help.”
He added that he is glad Youngkin is mounting a campaign to encourage people to get a vaccine and booster. “It would probably be more effective if there were mandates,” Sickles said. “But I’m happy that he’s actually promoting science.”
Erin Cox contributed to this report.