New York’s Medical Staff Vaccine Mandate Blocked By Federal Judge

CBS News: Judge Blocks New York From Imposing Vaccine Mandate On Medical Workers 
A federal judge temporarily blocked the state of New York on Tuesday from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated after a group of health care workers sued, saying their Constitutional rights were violated because the state's mandate disallowed religious exemptions. Judge David Hurd in Utica issued the order after 17 health professionals, including doctors and nurses, claimed in a lawsuit Monday that their rights were violated with a vaccine mandate that disallowed the exemptions. (9/14)

In updates on President Biden's vaccine mandate —

The Hill: Arizona Attorney General Sues Biden Over Vaccine Mandates
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on Tuesday in response to its new policy that will require private employers with 100 or more employees to mandate vaccines or weekly testing. “The federal government cannot force people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The Biden Administration is once again flouting our laws and precedents to push their radical agenda,” Brnovich, who is currently waging a bid for the U.S. Senate, said in a statement. (Schnell, 9/14)

Bloomberg: Federal Vaccine Mandate May Overwhelm US Covid Testing Capacity
The U.S. may not have enough tests to keep pace with the Biden administration’s tightened workplace Covid-19 mitigation measures. Under regulation expected in the coming weeks, companies with 100 or more employees will need to require that workers get vaccinated or undergo weekly testing. That could represent nearly double the volume of tests currently being processed, and may make already hard-to-find rapid tests more scarce and lengthen wait times in lines and for results. “We’re going to get logjammed,” said Michael Mina, an epidemiologist with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “We’re going to have major problems. We’re not going to have the production capacity.” (Court, 9/14)

NPR: An Epidemiologist Says At-Home Testing Is Key To Stopping COVID
The COVID-19 response plan that President Biden unveiled last week aims to dramatically increase the accessibility of rapid tests for the coronavirus. The Biden administration announced it was spending $2 billion on 280 million quick-turnaround tests to be distributed to community health centers, food banks, testing sites, shelters, prisons and other congregate settings. It's also leaning on Walmart, Amazon and Kroger to sell rapid tests at wholesale cost for the next three months. Such quick-turnaround tests can be taken at home or at a point of care and deliver results often in under an hour — as opposed to the more sensitive but more time-consuming PCR tests, which require laboratory processing. (Louise Kelly, 9/14)

KHN: Biden Releases A New Plan To Combat Covid, But Experts Say There’s Still A Ways To Go
On the campaign trail last year, Joe Biden promised that, if elected president, he would get covid-19 under control. Since assuming office in January, Biden has continued to pledge that his administration would do its best to get Americans vaccinated against covid and allow life to return to some semblance of normal. Both signs of progress and setbacks have cropped up along the way. (Knight and Appleby, 9/15)

In news from Florida —

AP: Florida Gov Defends The Right To Choose Whether To Vaccinate
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that people who decide not to get a COVID-19 vaccine might be making the wrong choice, but defended their right to make that choice. Speaking a day after holding a news conference to condemn vaccine mandates, DeSantis agreed that vaccines save lives. “There are some of those folks who may make a decision that’s not ultimately the right decision for them,” DeSantis said at a news conference Tuesday in Miami-Dade county. “There’s obviously probably people that have been hospitalized who probably wouldn’t have been if they had done that.” (Farrington, 9/14)

The Washington Post: Ron DeSantis Stands By As Florida City Officials Falsely Say Covid Vaccine ’Changes Your RNA’ 
After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Monday that cities and counties in the state could face millions of dollars in fines for requiring their employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, he stood silently next to a Gainesville city employee who spread misinformation about the vaccines. “The vaccine changes your RNA, so for me that’s a problem,” said Darris Friend, a 22-year city employee who is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Gainesville government over its vaccine requirements for all municipal employees. “We don’t want to have the vaccine. It’s about our freedom and liberty.” (Bella, 9/14)

WLRN 91.3 FM: Parents Want To Speed Mask Case To Florida Supreme Court 
Parents locked in a legal battle with Gov. Ron DeSantis about school mask requirements want to fast-track the case to the Florida Supreme Court. Attorneys for the group of parents filed a request late Friday to effectively bypass the 1st District Court of Appeal and go to the Supreme Court. The request, filed at the 1st District Court of Appeal, focuses heavily on a July 30 executive order issued by DeSantis that sought to prevent schools from requiring students to wear masks. (Saunders, 9/14)

In other news about vaccine and mask mandates —

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Sisolak Orders Mandatory Vaccination For Some State Workers
Acting on a unanimous recommendation from the state Board of Health, Gov. Steve Sisolak on Tuesday ordered mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all Department of Corrections employees and those working with at-risk populations in state-operated detention and health care facilities. The emergency regulation is effective Nov. 1 and will remain in effect for 120 days. The governor, in a statement, said he was “grateful to the Board of Health” for passing the regulation and also thanked his health department and the team of medical advisers he appointed to guide the state’s pandemic response who authored it. (Dentzer, 9/14)

The Baltimore Sun: Mask Requirement In Maryland Public Schools Gets Final Approval; Carroll Says It Will Comply With Decision 
Students, employees and visitors to Maryland’s public schools now must mask up, after state lawmakers signed off on a statewide mandate Tuesday. The approval came following a lengthy public video hearing that veered between accusations that a mask mandate represents government overreach to pleas from parents that their students be protected against the coronavirus. (Wood, 9/14)

AP: Ohio Governor Would Issue Mask Mandate If Law Allowed
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday said he would have issued a statewide mask mandate to slow spiking cases of the coronavirus if the Legislature hadn’t tied his hands through a strict restriction on public health orders. DeWine, a Republican, said he fears a fight with fellow GOP lawmakers, including one that might end up in court, could cause confusion at the worst time. (Welsh-Huggins, 9/14)

KHN: Over Half Of States Have Rolled Back Public Health Powers In Pandemic 
Republican legislators in more than half of U.S. states, spurred on by voters angry about lockdowns and mask mandates, are taking away the powers state and local officials use to protect the public against infectious diseases. A KHN review of hundreds of pieces of legislation found that, in all 50 states, legislators have proposed bills to curb such public health powers since the covid-19 pandemic began. While some governors vetoed bills that passed, at least 26 states pushed through laws that permanently weaken government authority to protect public health. In three additional states, an executive order, ballot initiative or state Supreme Court ruling limited long-held public health powers. More bills are pending in a handful of states whose legislatures are still in session. (Weber and Barry-Jester, 9/15)

CNN: White House Praises Fox For Its New Covid Policy, Encourages Network To 'Convey To Their Audience' Why It's Effective 
Fox is earning some rare praise from the White House after essentially admitting on Tuesday that it will follow the protocols pushed by the Biden administration to limit the spread of the coronavirus. In a memo I obtained, Fox Corp. human resources chief Kevin Lord effectively communicated to employees that they all face a choice: Get vaccinated or face a daily Covid-19 test. (Darcy, 9/14)

The Washington Post: Nicki Minaj Met Gala Vaccine Tweets Highlight Struggle Against Covid-19 Misinformation 
Nicki Minaj sparked a social media storm on Monday night after she tweeted about her cousin’s hesitancy to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, setting off a slew of critiques that she was spreading coronavirus misinformation. Minaj tweeted that her cousin in Trinidad, where the singer and rapper is from, “won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen.” Medical experts have said that claims about infertility linked to vaccinations are unsubstantiated. (Pietsch and Suliman, 9/14)