News

Many vaccinated workers must continue masking under revised Cal/OSHA workplace guidance

All employees must still wear mask if any colleague in room is unvaccinated; outdoor restrictions to ease except for large events

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health approved revised workplace guidelines last week that would require workers to continue wearing a mask in some situations even if they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

In a marathon hearing that lasted more than six hours Thursday, Cal/OSHA's Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted to adopt the revised guidance, which mandates that fully vaccinated workers need to wear a mask if a co-worker in the same room is unvaccinated.

In addition, masks are not required in rooms in which all workers are vaccinated. Outdoors, vaccinated and unvaccinated workers without symptoms only need to wear a mask when working at an event with more than 10,000 attendees.

Employers will also be able to get rid of distancing requirements and protective partitions if they provide N95 respirators to unvaccinated employees.

The board took a circuitous route to approve the revised guidance, voting first against the rules after some business groups argued they're too strict and then voting again to adopt them roughly an hour later.

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Those against the revised guidance noted that it is more strict than the guidance for fully vaccinated people issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which allows them to forgo a mask in most indoor and outdoor settings if they are more than two weeks past receiving their last vaccine dose.

Board members and business and labor advocates backing the revised rules stressed that they are temporary, only codified until Oct. 2.

The board also said it would work to develop a replacement set of rules. Since last year, all workers have been required to wear a mask at all times, regardless of vaccination status, a rule that would have remained in place had the board voted down the revised rules.

The board also voted to establish a three-member subcommittee to advise Cal/OSHA officials about developing a new set of workplace rules that would likely take effect in August at the earliest.

Most of the rules approved Thursday will take effect June 15 -- the same day the state is expected to remove all capacity restrictions and reopening tiers -- if the state's Office of Administrative Law finds them legally sound in the next 10 days.

Some additional portions of the revised guidance, like the removal of protective partitions and barriers between employees, will take effect July 31.

On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom was cagey when asked whether he would issue an executive order by June 15 to override the revised rules, saying only that he felt the board was "moving in the right direction" and that he looked forward to working with business and labor groups to develop future workplace safety guidance.

"We're processing this ... what happened last night just happened last night," Newsom said. "We look forward to updating you more as we make progress towards eventually getting (the pandemic) 100% behind us."

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Many vaccinated workers must continue masking under revised Cal/OSHA workplace guidance

All employees must still wear mask if any colleague in room is unvaccinated; outdoor restrictions to ease except for large events

by Eli Walsh / BCN Foundation /

Uploaded: Sun, Jun 6, 2021, 5:18 pm

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health approved revised workplace guidelines last week that would require workers to continue wearing a mask in some situations even if they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

In a marathon hearing that lasted more than six hours Thursday, Cal/OSHA's Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted to adopt the revised guidance, which mandates that fully vaccinated workers need to wear a mask if a co-worker in the same room is unvaccinated.

In addition, masks are not required in rooms in which all workers are vaccinated. Outdoors, vaccinated and unvaccinated workers without symptoms only need to wear a mask when working at an event with more than 10,000 attendees.

Employers will also be able to get rid of distancing requirements and protective partitions if they provide N95 respirators to unvaccinated employees.

The board took a circuitous route to approve the revised guidance, voting first against the rules after some business groups argued they're too strict and then voting again to adopt them roughly an hour later.

Those against the revised guidance noted that it is more strict than the guidance for fully vaccinated people issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which allows them to forgo a mask in most indoor and outdoor settings if they are more than two weeks past receiving their last vaccine dose.

Board members and business and labor advocates backing the revised rules stressed that they are temporary, only codified until Oct. 2.

The board also said it would work to develop a replacement set of rules. Since last year, all workers have been required to wear a mask at all times, regardless of vaccination status, a rule that would have remained in place had the board voted down the revised rules.

The board also voted to establish a three-member subcommittee to advise Cal/OSHA officials about developing a new set of workplace rules that would likely take effect in August at the earliest.

Most of the rules approved Thursday will take effect June 15 -- the same day the state is expected to remove all capacity restrictions and reopening tiers -- if the state's Office of Administrative Law finds them legally sound in the next 10 days.

Some additional portions of the revised guidance, like the removal of protective partitions and barriers between employees, will take effect July 31.

On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom was cagey when asked whether he would issue an executive order by June 15 to override the revised rules, saying only that he felt the board was "moving in the right direction" and that he looked forward to working with business and labor groups to develop future workplace safety guidance.

"We're processing this ... what happened last night just happened last night," Newsom said. "We look forward to updating you more as we make progress towards eventually getting (the pandemic) 100% behind us."

Comments

Jake Waters
Registered user
Birdland
on Jun 7, 2021 at 10:39 am
Jake Waters, Birdland
Registered user
on Jun 7, 2021 at 10:39 am

Ignorance begets ignorance. Apparently there isn't much confidence or faith in the vaccine. What science (meant as a pun) are they following now?


FrequentWalkerMiles
Registered user
Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Jun 7, 2021 at 11:44 am
FrequentWalkerMiles, Another Pleasanton neighborhood
Registered user
on Jun 7, 2021 at 11:44 am

Sounds like Newsom is working with someone he is on good terms with over at CalOSHA to test the public opinion without him having to declare a position, in order to maximize his chances in the fall recall.


Fronn F
Registered user
Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Jun 7, 2021 at 3:44 pm
Fronn F, Another Pleasanton neighborhood
Registered user
on Jun 7, 2021 at 3:44 pm

Cal-Osha teaming up with Gavin to shame workers into getting a vaccination. That is the most fundamental rule of discipline, and demonstrates the governor knows what’s best for you.


Kevin
Registered user
Castlewood
on Jun 7, 2021 at 9:51 pm
Kevin, Castlewood
Registered user
on Jun 7, 2021 at 9:51 pm

Jake and Frequent Walker, majority of people do more than you do - go for walks or make trips to living room, bedroom, bathroom, Safeway. They come in contact with dozens of others on trains, buses, work places, etc. Our great country is the best country in the world with Covid because of our precautions and the vaccines. We would be like India if it was up to your leader, Trump, who proposed disinfectant and light to battle Covid.


Jake Waters
Registered user
Birdland
on Jun 7, 2021 at 10:16 pm
Jake Waters, Birdland
Registered user
on Jun 7, 2021 at 10:16 pm

Nice attempt Kevin at being lucid. You missed the point again, as always, to this entire fiasco of a public health speed bump. We should never have fallen this deep for a different flu strain. Furthermore, I see Trump is still living rent free in hour head. Sad. But Kevin, rap your arms around this one: The Democrats have managed to bring back the 1918 Pandemic, the 1929 Depression, the 1968 Race Riots, and the 1973 Gas Lines ALL at the same time in Biden’s first 100 days. Great hat trick Dem’s.

1332 days left until this administration is gone.


BobB
Registered user
Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Jun 7, 2021 at 10:38 pm
BobB, Another Pleasanton neighborhood
Registered user
on Jun 7, 2021 at 10:38 pm

Good lord. More misinformation. This isn't "different flu strain". It's not even an influenza virus at all. It's a corona virus.


Jake Waters
Registered user
Birdland
on Jun 7, 2021 at 11:41 pm
Jake Waters, Birdland
Registered user
on Jun 7, 2021 at 11:41 pm

Hey Bob, did Fauci tell you that? LOL


FrequentWalkerMiles
Registered user
Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Jun 8, 2021 at 3:10 am
FrequentWalkerMiles, Another Pleasanton neighborhood
Registered user
on Jun 8, 2021 at 3:10 am

Ah yes, the old “If you don’t say things I agree with, then you must be a trump supporter”, the favorite line of the mentally lazy.

I walk to work, hence my user name, “Kevin in Castlewood”, speaking of people out of touch with the real world.


BobB
Registered user
Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Jun 8, 2021 at 4:02 pm
BobB, Another Pleasanton neighborhood
Registered user
on Jun 8, 2021 at 4:02 pm

SARS-COV-2 is not influenza. It is a different type of virus. It is not a flu virus.


John
Registered user
Birdland
on Jun 8, 2021 at 6:25 pm
John, Birdland
Registered user
on Jun 8, 2021 at 6:25 pm

Please everyone. Where a mask, wash your hands, socially distance, starve a cold, feed a fever, vote democratic to continue this fiasco.


Kevin
Registered user
Castlewood
on Jun 8, 2021 at 8:11 pm
Kevin, Castlewood
Registered user
on Jun 8, 2021 at 8:11 pm

Removed…. Combative and inane.


DKHSK
Registered user
Bridle Creek
on Jun 9, 2021 at 8:02 am
DKHSK, Bridle Creek
Registered user
on Jun 9, 2021 at 8:02 am

Combative and INANE. Seem right.

I REALLY love how NOBODY has posted this: Web Link

Lead paragraph: A quarter of all deaths previously attributed to COVID-19 in Alameda County weren’t actually caused by the coronavirus, the Alameda County Public Health Department announced today.

Did ya catch that? 25%.

And this isn't even done yet. We're going to be seeing more reporting like this in the future and those of you - looking right at you BobB and Kathleen - that fomented the circus of scaremongering should be banished from commenting.

Coupled with Fauci outright admitting in email that retail bought masks were useless abasing the virus, something he never said publicly, what a complete fiasco the Chinese Communist Party and our Government unleashed on the population.

That people are now arguing about the type of virus is just ridiculous. Doesn't matter.

Get mad...hold our Government and the Chinese Government responsible.

Hey Gina, why not do some investigative reporting on how OUR city reported its numbers. THAT is the type of paper we'd like to have.

Dan


Kathleen Ruegsegger
Registered user
Vintage Hills
on Jun 9, 2021 at 11:05 am
Kathleen Ruegsegger, Vintage Hills
Registered user
on Jun 9, 2021 at 11:05 am

Dan, feel free to call me out if I have commented. Otherwise, leave me out. Thanks.


Gina Channell, Publisher
Registered user
Downtown
on Jun 9, 2021 at 1:24 pm
Gina Channell, Publisher, Downtown
Registered user
on Jun 9, 2021 at 1:24 pm

@Dan -- I would love to put reporter time into investigative journalism. As a journalist, I would personally love to write about how Alameda suddenly had fewer COVID deaths, why Contra Costa isn't going to the yellow tier ... the list goes on.

In order to continue doing what we're doing and do more investigative journalism, we need financial support from readers.

I noticed you are not a member. To support your local news organization financially, visit Web Link


John
Registered user
Birdland
on Jun 9, 2021 at 6:37 pm
John, Birdland
Registered user
on Jun 9, 2021 at 6:37 pm

Keven has a serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Trump is really living in his head.


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