Good morning,
Happy New Year. I hope and trust you had a safe and healthy holiday break.
Monday evening, Governor Cuomo’s office posted Executive Order 202.88, his ninety-first Executive Order during the COVID-19 state of emergency. Executive Order 202.88 dated January 4, 2021, issues modifications or suspensions of certain statutes, laws, as well as new directives, all of which are designed to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Executive Order 202.88 is effective from January 4, 2021 through February 3, 2021. A copy of Executive Order 202.88 can be found here.
NEW DIRECTIVES
Administer COVID-19 vaccine or pay a fine
- Any healthcare facility, provider, or entity who has been allocated and has received COVID-19 vaccine, or who has received redistributed COVID-19 vaccine, must administer all such vaccine within one week of its receipt by such facility. Any healthcare facility, provider or entity who is not on pace to administer all vaccine must notify the Department of Health on the 5th day after receipt. This will be effective for any vaccine currently on hand at any healthcare facility, provider or entity as of January 4, 2020, and such remaining doses must be administered no later than January 8, 2020. The failure to administer vaccine in accordance with this process may result in a civil penalty of up to $100,000, and/or reduction or elimination of future allocations of vaccine. Failure to notify the Department pursuant to this directive may also cause the Department of Health to reduce or eliminate future allocations of vaccine to such facility, provider, or entity.
Testing of nursing home staff modified
- The directive contained in Executive Order 202.73 which modified Executive Orders 202.30, and 202.40, requiring testing of nursing home staff as directed by the Commissioner of Health is hereby modified to authorize the Commissioner of Health to set forth testing of all personnel at such facility in any area of the state irrespective of location in a micro-cluster zone as provided in 202.68.
SUSPENSION AND MODIFICATION OF LAWS
As with many previously issued executive orders, Executive Order 202.88 also suspends or modifies certain laws, codes, rules and regulations to aid in New York’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 crisis, this time through February 3, 2021. Executive Order 202.88 provides as follows:
- The modification in Executive Order 202.82 of Section 2168 of the Public Health Law and section 66-1.2 of Title 10 of the NYCRR is continued and modified only insofar as to require all influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations for any individual (child or adult) to be reported to NYSIIS or CIR, as applicable, within 12 hours of administration of such vaccine; and
- Section 12 of the Public Health Law is hereby modified to the extent necessary to permit the Department of Health to assess the civil penalties established in this Executive Order.