Canandaigua hospital expect to lose dozens more employees as religious exemptions end for COVID vaccine on Monday

New York – On Monday, November 22, New York’s COVID vaccine mandate for all healthcare workers takes full effect. Religious exemptions will no longer be legal.

According to leaders at healthcare facilities, this is going to make a bad situation much worse.

“I’d never experienced what we experienced yesterday in my entire career. I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” said Thompson Health CEO Michael Stapleton.
Some ICU patients are in emergency room beds at Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua.

At this time there are approximately 66 employees at Thompson Health who are working under religious exemption without the vaccine. Thompson says he needs every one of them on the job.

“They notified us at 2:15 on Monday that all of our folks on religious exemptions must be vaccinated or they can no longer work on this coming Monday. They gave us seven days,” he said.

According to Governor Kathy Hochul, there are National Guard members and thousands of student nurses ready to be deployed.

“Hopeless is too strong of a word. But every time we think we’re going to start seeing the light…the light dims. And right now the light is dim,” Stapleton added.

If dozen more employees leave Thompson Health when the mandate takes full effect next week, the situation will become terrible.