Sonoma County police, fire agencies get more time to start COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated staff

County first responder agencies were given three more weeks to start requiring weekly testing for workers who don’t get coronavirus vaccinations.

On Wednesday, Sonoma County health officials said police, fire and ambulance agencies now have until Sept. 24 to begin testing unvaccinated staff members.

However, as of Wednesday, the agencies were supposed to begin collecting proof of vaccination status from employees who have been inoculated, Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer, said during a press briefing.

The requirements were part of a public health order she issued Aug. 4 intended to strongly encourage first responders to get shots to protect themselves against the highly contagious virus. The deadline for vaccination compliance remained Sept. 1, but the test requirement was extended to allow agencies more time to set up testing procedures, officials said.

“There may be a little confusion between the testing requirement and the vaccine verification requirement,” Mase said. “I expect that tomorrow (Thursday) we might just find out where different groups are. We've made it really clear that the vaccine verification, masking requirements do go into effect Sept.1.

“It's mainly just the testing requirement for unvaccinated folks, weekly testing, that is going to be deferred to September 24, so they have time to come into compliance,” Mase said.

Sebastopol Police Chief Kevin Kilgore said Wednesday 89% of his department’s employees are fully vaccinated.

Kilgore declined to say how many of those employees are police officers. Given the small size of the department, divulging that number could violate employee privacy, he said.

But Kilgore said county public health staff members have done a good job educating people about the “positive impacts of the vaccine” and that his department has encouraged employees to heed the vaccination recommendations of medical professionals.

“I'm glad to say that many of our folks, a majority of our folks, have done that,” he said, noting that “those who have chosen not to, it’s their personal choice.”

Kilgore said the unvaccinated Sebastopol workers will be required to undergo weekly virus testing and adhere to indoor mask wearing, as required by the county’s recent public health order.

Sgt. Juan Valencia, a spokesman for the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, said the agency is in the process of collecting vaccination data and establishing its testing process.

“We’re still collecting the data; we don’t have accurate data,” Valencia said Wednesday.

Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Christopher Mahurin said the county’s largest police agency is also still in the process of putting its testing procedures in place and hopes to do so before the Sept. 24 deadline.

“Once that testing process is actually approved and finalized, we'll be able to start actually getting all the proof of vaccinations completed,” Mahurin said.

During the press briefing, Mase pointed out that agencies already can begin collecting proof of vaccinations. County health staff, she said, soon will begin collecting and examining that inoculation data.

Mase noted that the Sebastopol police department’s vaccination level of 89% exceeds the county’s rate of 74% for fully vaccinated residents 12 or older. Local ambulance providers also are reporting successful vaccination rates.

“Several of them have 100% of their staff vaccinated, so I think this group is actually doing it,” she said of the ambulance agencies. “We’ll be able to give you more data as they collect it.”

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.