51ÊÓƵ

Key components of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine or test mandate for more than 80 million workers went into effect Monday amid an ongoing Supreme Court battle that could ultimately doom the rule.   The months-long legal battle over the requirement, which was previously blocked by a federal court before being reinstated, has created confusion among employers about how to move forward. While Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism about the rule on Friday, they did not block its implementation by Monday’s deadline.  As of Monday, businesses with 100 or more employees were required to have a database of their workers’ vaccination status, post their company vaccine policy, provide paid leave to workers getting the vaccine and require unvaccinated employees to wear a mask at work.  (Evers-Hillstrom, 1/10)

Three major Houston hospitals will require employees to receive booster shots in the coming weeks, becoming some of the first institutions nationwide to elevate vaccination requirements amid widespread worker shortages caused by the omicron surge. Houston Methodist, Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine announced booster mandates to little fanfare Friday, a marked change from last year’s contentious debate over the legality and efficacy of such policies in health care settings. (Mishanec, 1/10)

Meta Platforms Inc. said that it would require Covid-19 booster shots for employees to work from its U.S. campuses and that it would delay fully opening those offices until late March, in another sign that the Omicron variant is shifting corporate reopening plans. (Cutter, 1/10)

Alaska state legislators have prefiled 58 new bills ahead of the Legislature’s Jan. 18 start, and almost a quarter of them propose to limit public and private responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirteen bills, all introduced by Republican members of the state House or Senate, would make it more difficult for the state and private businesses to require and administer COVID-19 vaccinations or impose emergency rules during a pandemic. Many of the proposals mimic legislation that has become law in other states. (Brooks, 1/10)

Democrats have a message for Omicron-flooded America: get vaxxed and carry on. From New York to California, Democratic mayors and governors are fighting to keep schools and businesses open with an urgency they haven’t flexed before in the pandemic. (Kashinsky and Luthi, 1/9)

Chicago teachers and students were set to come back to the classroom this week after city leaders reached an agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union on COVID-19 safety protocols amid a nationwide surge of cases fueled by the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Teachers were expected to return to work Tuesday, and students were expected to return Wednesday for the first time in week, city leaders said. The Chicago Teachers Union voted late Monday to suspend its labor action after the city and union reached a tentative agreement, but the union’s 25,000 members must still vote on the agreement. (Yancey-Bragg, Stucka, Ortiz and Rice, 1/10)

It's a new year with the same old worries for school administrators in southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky, the main goal remaining: how do we keep students, faculty and staff safe from the COVID-19 virus while providing quality education? Some districts that withdrew mask mandates – a flashpoint in a number of school board elections in the fall – have reimposed them, at least temporarily. The move back to masks comes after both Ohio's governor and the heads of Ohio's children's hospitals' urged schools to resume masking for now. (Mitchell, 1/11)