The Labor Department released a workplace safety standard for risks posed by the coronavirus on Thursday after more than a year of debate, ending months of speculation about the administration’s plans after it missed a self-imposed March deadline.
The emergency temporary standard (ETS), as it was called, will apply only to health-care facilities a much narrower purview than many advocates, labor unions and Democrats who work on labor policy had pushed for dating to the Trump administration.
The standard requires health-care facilities where covid-19 patients are treated to implement precautions such as mandatory mask-wearing, social distancing, and cleaning and disinfecting procedures, and notify workers when they are exposed to infections among co-workers, under the threat of penalty.
It will be effective as it is published in the Federal Register; employers will have two weeks to comply with most of the provisions.
The Labor Department will also issue updated guidance for facilities that have an elevated risk of transmission, such as meatpacking plants, grocery stores and high-volume retail locations.
The move ties the knot on one of the Biden administration’s biggest questions about labor policy.
Labor advocates and former federal officials including David Michaels, the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration during the Obama administration, had hoped that President Biden would move swiftly after his inauguration to implement an ETS, as the pandemic continued to surge nationwide.
Workplace transmission has not been studied in depth in the United States, but some experts say it has been a significant driver of infections, as hundreds of thousands of workers have become sick.
The Trump administration had declined a safety standard early on in the pandemic when outbreaks were speeding through workplaces, opting instead for guidance or recommendations that did not come with the threat of enforcement.
Biden issued an executive order on his second day in office that directed the Labor Department to issue an ETS, by March 15, if necessary. But months passed before the Senate confirmed a labor secretary, former Boston mayor Marty Walsh, in March, and the department missed the deadline.
The issue languished even after Walsh’s confirmation former Hill and Labor Department officials said they were concerned in April that it could be done away with entirely. But, with vaccination rates nationwide appearing to have significantly reduced but not eliminated the threat of the virus, the standard released Thursday represents a half-measure.
Administration officials said that the standard presented a challenge, as understanding about the virus has continued to shift.
“It’s been very tricky with guidance and the virus changing over the last couple of months,” Walsh said Thursday on a call with reporters. “The science tells us workers, particularly those who come into regular contact with the virus, are most at risk at this stage of the pandemic.”
Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.) the ranking Republican on the Education and Labor Committee, slammed the regulation in a statement.
“Placing new and burdensome regulations on this heroic industry at this stage of the pandemic is completely unnecessary,” she said. “Further, we cannot endorse an inflexible, restrictive regulation that is unable to keep up with the ever-evolving science regarding covid-19.”
Labor advocates said they were disappointed by the move, pointing out that only about a half of the working-age population is vaccinated.
“Unvaccinated workers remain at risk and must be protected,” said Debbie Berkowitz, a former OSHA official who has been one of the most prominent proponents of a wider standard. “We know that workers in many industries outside of health care faced elevated risks of covid, especially in low-wage industries like meat processing, that are disproportionately Black and Brown workers, and we need to make sure these workers are still protected with mitigation measures such as ventilation and filtration to control airborne exposures, and masks and social distancing.”