Workers in California vaccinated against COVID-19 will soon no longer be required by the state to wear masks indoors.
Cal/OSHA, the state’s workplace regulatory agency, approved new rules Thursday that align with California’s lifting on Tuesday of most coronavirus-related restrictions. The agency's board passed the revisions with a 5-1 vote.
Among the changes:
o Vaccinated employees, in the absence of an outbreak, aren’t required to wear masks indoors.
o Unvaccinated employees, unless alone in a room or vehicle, must wear masks at all times. In lieu of physical distancing, employers must provide N-95 masks to unvaccinated employees upon request.
o All employees working outdoors, in the absence of an outbreak and regardless of vaccination status, no longer need to wear masks.
o Employers must provide COVID-19 tests to unvaccinated employees with a close contact exposed.
o Employers can’t retaliate against vaccinated employees who choose to continue to wear a mask.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed an executive order to immediately put the rules into effect, eliminating the normally required 10-day waiting period.
Cal/OSHA’s approval follows a back-and-forth two weeks.
The regulatory agency’s seven-member standards board unanimously voted on June 3 to require all workers to continue wearing masks indoors if they shared a room with one colleague who wasn’t vaccinated against COVID-19.
On June 9, the board voted to withdraw the proposal amid criticism it didn’t align with the California’s June 15 reopening and guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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