Roughly 900 unvaccinated Manteca Unified teachers and support staff will need to get COVID-19 shots or submit to weekly testing under a mandate handed down by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The directive came Wednesday as all hospitals in the state including Doctors Hospital of Manteca as well as Manteca Kaiser were ordered by the California Department of Public Health to resume requiring all visitors to wear face masks regardless of their vaccination status as the delta variant continues to power a COVID surge.

Manteca Unified Community Outreach Coordinator Victoria Brunn Wednesday confirmed 69 percent of the district’s 3,000 teachers and support staff is fully vaccinated. Like students, they have been required to wear face masks since school started last week.

Brunn said the district will be consulting with human resource and legal experts as well as bargaining groups to address various questions such as what if a school employee refuses to get vaccinated or be tested each week. The vaccination or weekly testing mandate also applies to school volunteers.

It is clear by Newsom’s mandate that he doesn’t want them on campus.

The governor’s directive applies to 800,000 public school employees including about 320,000 teachers as well as private school personnel.

The order is designed to keep the current COVID surge in check and to help make sure in-person learning can continue.

The biggest issue for schools is there are no vaccines for those 12 and under while at the same time the number of children becoming ill from the delta variant has increased significantly.

"We think this is the right thing to do, and we think this is a sustainable way to keeping our schools open and to address the number one anxiety that parents like myself have for young children," said Newsom, who is a father of four. "That is knowing that the schools are doing everything in their power to keep our kids safe."

California is the first state to mandate school teachers and staff to be vaccinated or tested weekly. Several large school districts in California have already issued similar requirements that Newsom imposed statewide on Wednesday including San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Long Beach Unified.

Newsom earlier this month mandated that all health care workers must be fully vaccinated and required that all state employees get vaccinated or choose weekly testing. The weekly testing schedule is based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Wednesday, 53 of California’s 57 counties were determined to have high surges in COVID cases including San Joaquin County. The rise of COVID cases in Monterey and San Benito counties were rated substantial, in Modoc County moderate and in Alpine County light.

San Joaquin County Public Health Officer Dr. Maggie Park told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday that COVID-19 case rates and hospitalizations are continuing to spike in the county since the State reopened on June 15. She said the Delta variant is spreading across the County, predominantly among people who are unvaccinated.

 San Joaquin County COVID-19 latest statistics as of Aug. 10 include: 

*80,528 total COVID-19 cases; 1,491 deaths; 163 people hospitalized; 39 people in ICU; 13 people on ventilators

*9,847 total COVID-19 cases since March 2020 are occurring in ages 0-17 (over 12% of total cases)

*405,010 total residents have been fully or partially vaccinated through the County, as well as other multi-county entities, hospital systems, and pharmacies comprising 62.3% of San Joaquin County’s total population

*49.8% of residents aged 12 or over are fully vaccinated and 12.5% are partially vaccinated

*25.6 daily new cases (per 100,000), up from 11.5 on July 27

*9.3% positive tests for the entire county, up from 6% on July 27

  Park told the Board the spike in cases is presenting in younger people oftentimes who are unvaccinated. “The current increase in COVID-19 cases is occurring in people in their 20s, 30s and 40s,” Park said. “As cases are rising, we are starting to see an uptick in people getting vaccinated, which is at least a bit of good news. We continue to encourage residents to get their vaccination and wear masks which is the only way to ensure people of all ages stay healthy and out of the hospital.”

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com