DENVER — While the vast majority of state employees have revealed they’re vaccinated against COVID-19, a few thousand hold-outs have decided to keep their status secret and opt for biweekly testing under state rules, an analysis by 9Wants to Know has found.
Out of approximately 28,000 state employees under the governor's vaccination rules, about 16% are either unvaccinated or they haven’t revealed their status.
A review of employee vaccine data from the Department of Personnel Administration by 9Wants to Know found among agencies, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has the highest non-attest rate at 32%, or about one out of three employees.
“It’s hard to put it down to one thing. We certainly hear different reasons why,” CDOT spokesperson Matt Inzeo said of the unknown reason why his agency has the highest rate. “We've been strongly encouraging everyone to get vaccinated.”
Graphic created by Zack Newman.
Inzeo said CDOT has hosted vaccine buses and health clinics at offices and work sites in an effort to get more employees on board with protection against the virus.
For employees who’ve decided not to get vaccinated or reveal their status, they must undergo biweekly COVID testing, under state rules.
Inzeo said COVID testing has revealed about 100 positive cases since the early fall when the state required employees to get tested if they decided not to get vaccinated.
“And those are co-workers who are protected,” Inzeo said. “Those are other family members of those employees who are protected.”
9Wants to Know’s review of the employee vaccine data also reveals biweekly testing of state employees could be costing up to $1 million taxpayer dollars a week, since many COVID tests are covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Tests are free to anyone who uses them, but the cost is ultimately picked up by the federal government.
Brian Spencer, a spokesperson for the Joint Information Center, wrote in an email that each COVID-19 PCR test costs between $100 to $150. 9Wants to Know found that it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to run the tests if every test was done at a state site.
It’s unclear exactly how many of the tests are done at the FEMA-reimbursed state sites because the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) does not track how many state employees are tested.
“Many state agencies refer employees to the state’s 140 free community sites,” Spencer wrote in an email. “We have contracts with numerous testing vendors who operate those sites, and it would be difficult to separate out how much is being spent testing state employees because the testing vendors do not track those individuals separately.”
Spencer wrote that a testing site was established at the State Services Building for state employees near the capitol in Denver.
Under rules set by Governor Jared Polis, state employees are also allowed to get tested on state-time.
While 16% of state employees have not disclosed status or received vaccines, under the City of Denver which does have a vaccine mandate, only 0.5% of city employees are unvaccinated. The unvaccinated have to routinely test for COVID under special religious and medical exemptions.
The state’s less-pointed approach to vaccine rules at work may actually save taxpayers more money in the long run, said Dr. Cindi Fukami, who is a professor of management at the University of Denver.
“Seems like a pretty fair minded approach,” Fukami said, adding it can cost nearly double an employee’s salary to replace employees terminated over vaccines. Recruiting and training replacements can be costly, she said.
“I think the good news is that it's extending an olive branch in a situation that's very contentious,” Fukami said.
A spokesperson for the Governor’s Office told 9Wants to Know only 34 state employees have been terminated for failing to follow testing requirements if they weren’t vaccinated.
The City of Denver has terminated 26 employees for failing to comply with its vaccine mandate.
Reach investigative reporter Zack Newman through his phone (303-548-9044). You can also call or text securely on Signal through that same number. Email: zack.newman@9news.com.
Contact investigative reporter Jeremy Jojola via his email: jeremy@9news.com.
Read about the data process that 9Wants to Know used here. See the data for yourself below:
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