Once again, much of southcentral Kentucky finds itself at a critical juncture in the seemingly endless fight against COVID-19. As of Tuesday, several counties in our region – including Warren – are back in the “red zone,” according to the state of Kentucky’s COVID dashboard, meaning those counties’ incidence rate has climbed to at least 25%.

This is a troubling situation, to say the least. After COVID vaccines became available to the public earlier this year, we enjoyed several months of optimism: cases and deaths declined; mask, capacity and social-distancing restrictions were loosened or eliminated; and life began to feel somewhat normal again. The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel was coming into view.

Quite suddenly, however, the outlook changed. The initial rush to receive vaccines waned, and new coronavirus variants – particularly the potent delta variant – emerged. Over the course of just a few weeks, infections and illnesses climbed dramatically, prompting several states and municipalities to reinstate certain safety restrictions and requirements. We might not be right back where we started in this pandemic, but we are closer to that point than we’ve been for many months.

All of the legitimate data on this new surge in COVID cases and deaths indicate that they overwhelmingly involve unvaccinated populations. Vaccine hesitancy and refusal have become the focus of an intense cultural and political debate, especially as a growing number of employers have started requiring workers to receive vaccines as a condition of employment. Locally, the largest employer to take this step is at the epicenter of the battle against the coronavirus: Med Center Health.

Last week, the regional health-care organization announced that it is requiring all medical staff, students, residents, fellows and vendors to be vaccinated. We wholeheartedly agree with this decision and applaud Med Center Health for setting a strong example. Not only is it a no-brainer for one of the state’s largest health-care providers to do all it can to address one of the biggest health crises in history, but this move also sends a strong message to the thousands of southcentral Kentucky residents who continue to reject vaccinations for dubious or ill-informed reasons.

Naturally, Med Center Health’s announcement was greeted with disappointment or anger in some circles, mainly among those who view the requirement as some sort of violation of their freedoms. This is, of course, nonsense. Those who choose not to be vaccinated are absolutely free to remain unvaccinated – they just cannot expect to continue to be employed by Med Center Health if they follow that path. We have many rights as Americans, but the right to keep our jobs despite defying our employer’s rules is not one of them.

We’re sure that across the nation, lawsuits will arise from vaccine mandates implemented by public and private employers, or even by state and local governments. The prevailing view among legal experts is that such suits will fail. They often point out that this issue was taken up by the Supreme Court more than 100 years ago: During a smallpox outbreak in 1902, Cambridge, Mass., required residents over 21 to be vaccinated or face a fine. A pastor sued, claiming the mandate violated his religious liberty. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled in Jacobson v. Massachusetts that the mandate was legal.

“The liberty secured by the Constitution of the United States does not import an absolute right in each person to be at all times, and in all circumstances, wholly freed from restraint, nor is it an element in such liberty that one person, or a minority of persons residing in any community and enjoying the benefits of its local government, should have power to dominate the majority when supported in their action by the authority of the State,” Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote in the court’s 1905 decision.

Of course, time will tell whether the legal conditions change as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and our nation’s responses to it. For now, however, it seems prudent for certain employers to require vaccinations – and in fields such as health care, it practically seems necessary. We urge other health-care facilities and providers to follow Med Center Health’s lead, so that we can hopefully reverse COVID’s renewed rise before too many more lives are needlessly lost.