“Health care employees looking to skirt the federal vaccine mandate and claim a religious exemption need to do little more than submit a short request to human resources. . . .

“Hospital officials from several states said they created simple forms to meet the administration’s mandate, which requires all health workers, including those not directly involved in patient care, to either get vaccinated or have a hospital-approved religious or medical exemption.

“While the federal government doesn’t track the number of religious exemptions, anecdotal evidence indicates they are widespread in health care settings. Several hospital executives told POLITICO their prevalence has helped keep the hospital from laying off dozens of employees, which would threaten their ability to provide patient care. But public health experts and patient advocates fear that widespread use of the exemptions risks infecting patients with the virus, even as Covid-19 cases decline rapidly from their January peak. Last month, as Omicron surged, more patients than at any time of the pandemic caught Covid in U.S. hospitals, likely due to insufficient control measures, POLITICO found in an analysis of federal data.”

Levy, Rachael, and Megan “Health Workers’ Vaccine Mandate Undone by Religious Exemptions,” Politico, 28 Feb. 2022          

David’s nursing home recruited CNAs from the local high school.  In Minnesota, “Parental or guardian consent is required for COVID-19 vaccination of people 17 years of age and younger, except under rare or special circumstances” (“COVID-19 Vaccine for Children and Teens”). When I wrote to the nursing home director to inquire about vaccination rates among staff, he replied that “nearly 1/4 of our work force is between the ages of 16 – 18, which significantly limits them the opportunity to receive effective vaccine” (email, 5/13/21). Parental refusal of consent for 16- and 17-year-old workers could go some distance toward explaining the low staff vaccination rate. Still, there must have been quite a few religious or other exemptions. 

Throughout David’s time there, COVID outbreaks swelled and ebbed.  I never saw the staff vaccination rate reach 60%.  David did contract COVID again.