HONOLULU — The operator of Oahu’s public buses has put its employee COVID-19 vaccine mandate on hold.
Oahu Transit Services operates the public bus system called TheBus and the transit service for people with disabilities called TheHandi-Van.
Human Resources Director Tamara Addison told Hawaii Public Radio the agency is waiting for published guidelines from the Biden administration on a federal rule requiring employers with 100 or more workers to ensure the workforce is fully vaccinated or require unvaccinated employees to produce weekly negative test results before coming to work.
The vaccination mandate for bus operators was supposed to go into effect Sept. 15 and then was postponed again.
Oahu Transit is using the time to review nearly 200 exemption requests, Addison said. About a 100 have been proved, mostly for religious reasons.
There are nearly 1,000 drivers and about 88% are vaccinated.
The agency said it is not conducting routine COVID-19 testing for drivers.
Case counts among drivers are coming down, Addison said. There were 38 positive cases among drivers in August, 15 in September and six last month.