(COUNTY EXECUTIVE) Allegheny County to End Vaccine Requirement, COVID-19 Leave Policies

PITTSBURGH – With the federal health emergency ending last week, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald today announced that the county will be following suit. Accordingly, the county’s requirement for employees and new hires to be vaccinated will be lifted and the generous COVID leave that the county had implemented at the beginning of the pandemic will also be ended.

"Following the ending of the Federal Health Emergency on May 11, it is time for Allegheny County to do the same," said Fitzgerald. "At the height of the pandemic, it was important to keep our fellow employees and the public we serve safe by having our employees vaccinated. While we still encourage people to protect themselves against COVID, the lifting of the emergency by the federal governments suggests to us to be consistent."

Fitzgerald announced in September 2021 that county employees and new hires would need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. The measure was intended to protect the people served by county employees from unnecessary exposure to the virus. Except as required in accordance with federal and state requirements for staff in specific facilities, the vaccine requirement will no longer be in effect.

COVID-19 vaccines will continue to be covered at no cost to county employees under their existing health care plans. The ACHD’s Immunization Clinic will also continue to offer COVID-19 vaccines to those who need their initial COVID-19 vaccination, updated bivalent vaccination and residents who are eligible to receive an additional shot.

Allegheny County also began offering generous paid COVID-19 leave early on in the pandemic for employees impacted by the virus. This benefit preceded the federal implementation of a paid leave requirement and has remained in place. With the ending of the federal health emergency, that policy will also end as of May 31. County employees have access to established accrued paid leave benefits including sick, vacation, and personal time which remain in place and are available to all eligible employees to utilize as appropriate.

The ending of the federal Public Health Emergency (PHE) has also impacted what information is available to the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD). Changes at the federal and state level have changed what is required to be reported and how information is gathered and distributed with many efforts being suspended. Accordingly, today’s weekly COVID-19 update will be the last that the department issues.

"The response to the pandemic required everyone within county government, the health systems, countless community partners and residents working together to keep everyone as healthy as possible, while limiting the spread of the virus, especially during the outbreak’s earliest days," said Patrick Dowd, Acting Director of ACHD. "This transition to a right-sized response to COVID-19 is an appropriate one as case numbers continue to drop to their lowest level in three years. We have built an effective and efficient disease outbreak response blueprint during the pandemic and, if another global public health threat emerges, are ready to respond at a moment’s notice."

The public may still access the information published in the weekly report on ACHD’s COVID-19 dashboard, as well as on similar dashboards published by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Currently, the Health Department manages seven COVID-19 dashboards. Over the course of the next several weeks many of these dashboards will be decommissioned. The COVID-19 Wastewater Monitoring dashboard will continue to be updated on a regular basis.

Much like many of the other health care facilities in the region, the Health Department’s clinics, Immunization, Public Health, Pediatric Dental and Tuberculosis, are ending their masking requirement for staff and patients, effective immediately.

The Health Department will announce further changes to its COVID-19 response, as information becomes available.