MARTA will become the latest government agency to require its employees to be vaccinated or undergo regular COVID-19 testing.
On Thursday the MARTA board of directors approved a policy that requires weekly testing for employees who have not confirmed they are vaccinated by Oct. 4. The agency plans to make testing available to employees who are not vaccinated.
Like other employers, MARTA has wrestled with whether to require COVID-19 vaccinations as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage Georgia. State hospitals are overwhelmed with patients, and some have begun canceling elective surgeries to focus on seriously ill patients.
As of Wednesday, 34% of patients in Georgia hospitals were seriously ill COVID-19 patients. The vast majority are unvaccinated.
To stem the pandemic, some companies have begun requiring employees to be vaccinated. President Joe Biden recently required federal employees to get regular COVID-19 tests unless they are vaccinated. And this week Fulton County required employees to get vaccinated or undergo frequent testing.
MARTA has offered on-site vaccinations, raffles and other measures to persuade employees to get vaccinated. But just 48% of its 4,300 employees have been vaccinated, while 846 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. Three employees have died from the disease.
Spokesperson Stephany Fisher said MARTA’s efforts have led more employees to be vaccinated.
“But it’s not enough,” she said.
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