SCO Holds “COVID-Safe” Virtual Town Hall

On August 19^th, more than 400 SCO employees joined an SCO Virtual Town Hall to discuss the new NYC COVID-Safe Requirement. The COVID-Safe mandate requires that effective Aug 16, 2021, all NYC-contracted residential, congregate care and jail-based staff at SCO must either:

• Provide one-time verification of vaccination OR
• Provide weekly proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test.

This requirement will be extended to all other SCO staff on September 13^th.

The meeting kicked off with a review of the mandate and how it will be rolled out at SCO. Guest speaker Dr. OluSimbo Ige, Assistant Commissioner for Health Equity at the NYC Department of Health, provided an eye-opening presentation on the state of COVID in NY, the surging Delta variant, and the City’s response to keep the virus in check. The event concluded with a Q&A session that included questions about the rollout as well as the health questions for Dr. Ige.

SCO plans to hold more COVID-related Town Halls in the future.