Three of Idaho’s largest health care providers announced this week they are requiring employees, volunteers and contractors to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by this fall.

In a Friday media call, St. Luke’s President and CEO Chris Roth said nearly 80 percent of St. Luke’s employees are already vaccinated, and with the uptick in cases nationwide related to the Delta variant, hospital leadership felt it was the right time to add the COVID vaccine to the list of required immunizations already in place for hospital employees. The announcements drew criticism from conservative lawmakers across the state.

The state’s test positivity rate remains low, but continues to creep up slightly at 3.6 percent. As of Friday morning, six cases of the Delta variant had been recorded in Idaho. Nationwide, the variant accounts for half of new cases recorded in the last week.

Nearly 724,000 Idahoans have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. In the last week, providers have administered about 7,400 doses.