Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and his Economic Recovery Task Force met today to talk about best practices as coronavirus cases surge again in the area.
A number of Orange County and Orlando area business leaders discussed requiring vaccinations of their staff as coronavirus cases continue to rise in Florida.
Doug Taylor of Church Street Entertainment says they’ve already mandated face masks and by the end of this week they’ll do the same for vaccines.
“As a part of that policy, we’re exploring the use of incentives for current employees as we also look intently and likely will require any new employees to be vaccinated.”
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Casandra Matej of Visit Orlando says they’re discussing a vaccine incentive program.
“I know we’re having a discussion on rewarding those that are already vaccinated with an extra PTO day or we’re going to give a certain time frame for those that are willing to get vaccinated within the next 30 days.”
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Tim Giuliani of the Orlando Economic Partnership, who co-chairs the task force, says it’s crucial that employers make the right choices in the coming days to protect the local community.
“But I think it’s going to take an extra level of effort this time. This is a different phase, this is a different strain of the virus. And so we’re going to have to do different things. And unfortunately our mayor doesn’t have all the tools he once had to help, so he needs all of us to contribute to creating a safe environment.”
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The state recorded its highest daily COVID-19 numbers since the start of the pandemic over the weekend.
