Wake County to give employees cash bonus and days off for full COVID vaccinations
Update: The story was updated at 8:50 a.m. Aug. 12, 2021, to clarify that the town of Carrboro could discipline employees who refuse to get the COVID vaccine.
Wake County will join other Triangle governments offering bonuses to public employees who get vaccinated against COVID-19.
In Wake County, employees who are already vaccinated or get fully vaccinated by Sept. 15 will get a $250 bonus and two paid days off, County Manager David Ellis said in a news release.
Wake County employees who don’t get vaccinated will have to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing, starting Sept. 20 until the county reports under 5% of tests are positive and the transmission rate falls. The county will pay for its employee bonuses with grant money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, the release noted.
Over 76% of Wake County adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
“I wouldn’t be encouraging our employees to get vaccinated if I didn’t think it was the right thing to do,” said Ellis, who was vaccinated in March. “We’ve led the effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19 since it first appeared in our community, and this is the next step we must take to protect our 4,200 employees and the people they serve every day.”
The Wake County Public School System has not discussed vaccine incentives, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
Hillsborough announced a $300 bonus Tuesday. Carrboro has been offering its town employees a $100 vaccination bonus since late June, and over 70% of its 153 employees are vaccinated, town officials said in a news release.
Town spokeswoman Catherine Lazorko clarified Thursday that unvaccinated employees who do not receive a religious or medical exemption by Sept. 1 could be fired or face other disciplinary action, as well as weekly testing.
The town of Chapel Hill plans a similar bonus program for its over 750 full-time employees, Mayor Pam Hemminger said Tuesday.
The city of Durham does not have a bonus incentive.
“Currently, vaccines are not required for city employees,” city spokeswoman Beverly Thompson said in an email. “We certainly encourage City employees to be vaccinated, and various ways to incentivize employees to do that are always under consideration by senior management.:
Proof of vaccine or weekly tests
Orange County and all three of its towns have set a Sept. 1 deadline for all employees to show proof they have been vaccinated or undergo weekly testing for COVID-19. Orange County, which has 1,040 full-time employees, is not planning to offer a bonus, spokesman Todd McGee said in an email.
Hillsborough Mayor Jennifer Weaver said the public’s response to the bonus program has been positive so far.
“As we are all aware, our community overall is making good progress on vaccine coverage, for which I am extremely grateful and proud, but certainly the embrace of vaccinations is not universal,” Weaver said. “I hope the town setting this example of how important the vaccines are to our collective public health encourages others to take the step.”
Roughly 60% of Hillsborough’s 97 employees have been vaccinated so far, the release noted. Town offices remain closed to the public, and many employees are still telecommuting.
Weaver said the town will pay the bonuses — at a cost of just over $29,000 — with money from its general fund in order to thank employees who have been vaccinated and encourage more to join them.
“With the Delta variant being so much more contagious, it is imperative that we either get folks vaccinated or are regularly testing the unvaccinated,” she said. “This is essential for the welfare of individual employees, their co-workers and the community we serve.”
Orange County has one of the highest vaccination rates in the state at 76% but still has seen COVID-19 infections rise, especially among unvaccinated people.
The infection period is shorter among those who are vaccinated, health experts have said.
On Tuesday, Orange County was reporting 234 confirmed cases for every 100,000 people in the past 14 days, according to state Department of Health and Human Services data. Over 60% of those cases were among those ages 18 to 49, data showed.
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 12:20 PM.
