NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- The MTA is still dealing with a significant number of unvaccinated workers, and with omicron bearing down on the area, officials are getting restless.
With no full mandate in place, the transit authority’s vaccination rate is about 73%.
MTA board member Victor Calise says the clock is ticking.
"The numbers are rising and it's going to be detrimental to riders, it's going to be detrimental to workers,” said Calise. “We’ve got to start considering what’s next, because we’ve got issues.”
“Nothing shows more respect for MTA employees than the desire to keep them safe,” said another board member.
Fellow member Vincent Tessitore, a union rep, is hinting that a mandate would lead to even more delays and late trains, with fewer workers to fill the gaps.
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"Leave us be. We have it. We deal with them every single day on COVID. We'll deal with it. We'll be fine and if we're not, we'll adjust,” said Tessitore.
The MTA has also seen mask usage slip, and what had been called a “blitz” for people to mask up by the NYPD has resulted in few fines. They instead have often preferred handing out masks.
Unvaccinated workers are still subjected to regular testing, and officials say their positivity is around 1%.
In New York state, the COVID positivity rate is up to 5.57%, with nearly 13,000 new positive cases reported Wednesday. New York City’s rate climbed over 3% Wednesday. The state’s rate was in the low 2% region as recently as late-October.
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