Dear Friend --

We are announcing today that all City of Long Beach employees will need a mandatory vaccination or be required to show a weekly negative COVID-19 test. Thank you to the 72% of city employees who have already been vaccinated and to the hundreds of thousands of Long Beach residents that have as well.

Nearly 72% of adults in our city are now vaccinated against COVID-19. This is a tremendous achievement and I want to thank all of the incredible people whose hard work and dedication allowed us to roll vaccines out quickly and become a national model for vaccine distribution.

With that said, the pandemic is not over, and we are seeing a worrisome rise in case rates and positivity. Just over a month ago, the case rate in Long Beach was less than 1 per 100,000 people each day. Right now, that rate is up to 21.6 per 100,000 people in our city. The City’s positivity rate, which was 0.5 percent in June, is 8.2 percent today. We must expand our efforts to get people vaccinated and protect the health of our community.

It’s important that public institutions model responsible leadership and that public employees take these basic steps to protect the health of the community we serve. With vaccines readily available, the spread of COVID-19 is completely preventable without needing to impact small businesses or our economy. Vaccines are a safe and effective way to stop COVID-19, but we need everyone to do their part. Please get vaccinated — and if you are already vaccinated reach out to others in your social circles encouraging them to do the same.

Vaccines are also more accessible than ever in Long Beach. In addition to our Convention Center and LBCC sites, we have eight mobile clinics operating around the city as well as pop-up vaccination events and a mobile vaccination team for individuals who are not able to travel.

If you or someone you know aged 12 or older has not yet been vaccinated, please visit longbeach.gov/vaxlb for more information on the vaccines and where to get vaccinated safely.

Thank you, 

Mayor Robert Garcia