Most vaccinated California staff should hold masks on – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

SACRAMENTO, Calif .– (AP) – Conflicting California labor inspectorates approved controversial rules Thursday night allowing workers to go maskless only if every employee in a room is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

However, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board has made it clear that the regulations are only a stopgap solution as they consider further easing pandemic rules in the coming weeks or months. The new rules are expected to go into effect on June 15, the same day the state eases masking and other precautions in social institutions across the board.

The board initially voted 4 to 3 to reject any changes to the current rules.

However, Chairman David Thomas said this would have left employers with existing regulations that require masks for all employees, as well as social distancing and segregation between employees in certain circumstances.

A short time later, the seven-member board unanimously passed the revised regulations, while a three-member subcommittee considered further changes.

“It’s better than the previous one because that’s what we’re going back to,” when the board didn’t act, said Thomas. “We don’t want to leave the last one in place if that’s better.”

The power cycle decisions were made after large corporate groups and dozens of individuals spent hours urging the board to further lift pandemic regulations.

“We have to create sensible and enforceable standards,” said board member Nola Kennedy, an initial no. “I just think this proposal isn’t there yet.”

Kate Crawford was also initially against it, saying the revision should better align with recent guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The guidance says fully vaccinated individuals can now skip face-covering and distancing in almost all situations, and the state will be following that recommendation on June 15.

For some members who originally opposed the revision, the deal killer was a requirement that starting July 1, employers should stock up on the most effective N95 face masks for employees who want them.

They reflected criticism from numerous employer groups who said the requirement was impractical, expensive, and tied up millions of masks needed by healthcare workers.

“Logistically, it is just unclear to me how a company determines how many and how much,” said Chris Laszcz-Davis, a management representative on the board who originally voted against the revised regulations. “I’m not sure how much we’re buying in recommending N95s. Why not a surgical mask? “

The initial rejection, however, was not a clear separation between employee and management representatives on the board, which includes public members and security experts.

The board plans to regroup at its June 17th meeting, but further revising the rules will be a lengthy process. The newly appointed three-person subcommittee will attempt to produce acceptable revisions which will then need to be drafted by Cal / OSHA staff prior to a public review.

Without another revision, the revised rules could stay in place until early next year, although coronavirus cases in the state have fallen dramatically and more people are being vaccinated after a severe winter surge.

The workplace rules contrast with the state’s plan to fully reopen in less than two weeks, and to abolish virtually all mask and clearance requirements for vaccinated individuals.

Some opponents suggested that Governor Gavin Newsom could use his emergency powers to further lift restrictions in the meantime.

More than three dozen agribusiness opponents said in a pre-vote comment that the revised rules would put Newsom “in the uncomfortable position of having to issue an executive order to correct recent actions by a state agency of the Newsom administration”.

Other reviewers said lawsuits are sure to challenge the rules.

Newsom, a Democrat, faces a likely recall election this fall, driven mainly by frustration at the restrictions he placed during the pandemic. He made the reopening of the State General on June 15 a cornerstone of his response.

He was non-committal before the vote, but noted that Cal / OSHA will need to apply its rules to a wide variety of businesses, including places like meat packing plants, which have been particularly hard hit by the virus.

The Cal / OSHA regulations apply to almost every job in the state, including workers in offices, factories, and retail stores. The pandemic rules apply to all employees except those who work from home or have a single employee who has no contact with anyone else.

“Cal / OSHA is inconsistent with the rest of the country,” said Andrew Sommer on behalf of the California Employers COVID-19 Prevention Coalition prior to the vote.

Workplace rules set “an inconsistent standard” between members of the public and employees in private and government workplaces, the California Chamber of Commerce and more than five dozen other business organizations said in a letter to the board of directors.

For example, restaurant operators must remain masked while working, but could be exposed if they dine in the same location during their free time, said Katie Hansen, senior legislative director of the California Restaurant Association.

Eric Berg, a member of the safety committee, said the revised rules recognize important differences between employees and the public, including the fact that employees are “cumulative” longer in the workplace than they do with casual social interaction.

The revised rules were supported by workers ’representatives and unions, including those representing wagoners, machinists, utility workers, engineers, nurses and other health care workers and school workers.

“The workplace is not the same as choosing to go to a dinner party, gym or movie,” said Maggie Robbins, occupational health practitioner at Worksafe Inc., an Oakland-based employee advocacy group. “There is still a lot to be done before we have a substantially immunized population where we can relax more controls.”

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Associate press journalist Olga R. Rodriguez contributed from San Francisco.

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