in many respects this crisis we re seeing resembles the fall of vietnam and the many, many, many black veterans that came back home to a country that didn t recognize their service, that didn t support them in many ways. we want to make sure that not only those that served are continued to be taken care of and receive restitution, but they re addressed. the national va council said 3 out of every 4 va employees witnessed some kind of discrimination. 65% of va employees believed that racism made their job harder. so the implications for veterans that have going on there for mental health care, that have to go there for any type of care off benefits is exponential. it s damning. so for us, we want to make sure we re studying the issue, being an accountability partner.
the president to highlight companies that have required vaccination for their employees. as we ve seen the white house increasingly move in that direction of mandates or vag vaccine requirements, proof of vaccination to have activities. the requirement that va employees be vaccinated, so certainly we ve seen the white house encouraging mandates. i ve already asked for a comment a few minutes ago what the reaction is to the big news by new york city. big news, yes. but among some of the other issues, the white house is trying to raise attention and awareness on a slight uptick in the past few days in vaccinations, particularly driven in areas that are hardest hit by this pandemic, seeing that they are seeing a growing number of people in those areas, come in for their first dose, so a positive sign, after really
been talking about it, but today was marked by a more urgent tone. is concern in the white house rising day by day over this new variant and how do folks feeling about their messaging on the virus? the urgency has certainly ticked up. i will say last week, and maybe a little bit into the week prior, i talked to people within the administration, people who were close to the administration, and they raised a lot of these issues, like requiring masks for certain groups, vaccine mandates for some federal employees. but i would say about a week ago, ten days ago at this time, nobody was thinking it was going to happen as quickly as it did and as widespread as it has. there was talk about vaccine mandates for va employees, for members of the military, maybe tsa screeners, not for the entire federal workforce to have to be either vaccinated or submit to really regular test.
UVA expands asymptomatic saliva testing to employees on grounds University of Virginia By Riley Wyant | January 12, 2021 at 7:37 PM EST - Updated January 12 at 8:53 PM
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - The University of Virginia took another big step in its COVID-19 testing efforts.
Full-time employees actively working on grounds are now eligible for its voluntary asymptomatic virus testing program using saliva. The saliva tests take only about 10 minutes to complete and results typically come out within 72 hours.
“By testing more people we’re able to catch cases early, eliminate opportunities for the virus to spread, keep people safe, and be able to operate the university,” UVA Spokesperson Brian Coy said. “It allows these employees to do their jobs in a way that’s healthy and safe for them and for the people around them.”