On December 13, 2021 during a press conference, California’s Health and Human Services Secretary indicated that a new, indoor mask mandate would be in-place effective Wednesday, December 15, 2021 and lasting until January 15, 2021. Later in the afternoon, the California Department of Public Health published guidance which states as follows:
- To ensure that we collectively protect the health and well-being of all Californians; keep schools open for in-person instruction; and allow California’s economy to remain open and thrive, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is requiring masks to be worn in all indoor public settings, irrespective of vaccine status, for the next four weeks (December 15, 2021 through January 15, 2022).
With respect to employers, the CDPH states the following:
- In workplaces, employers are subject to the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) or in some workplaces the Cal/OSHA Aerosol Transmissible Diseases (ATD) Standard and should consult those regulations for additional applicable requirements.
This means that employers should be requiring indoor masking in California on December 15, 2021. Please note, there are extremely limited exemptions outlined in the guidance with no general exemptions based on vaccination status.
If you have questions about your businesses’ compliance with the Cal/OSHA or California Department of Public Health standards and regulations, please contact the attorneys at Sagaser, Watkins & Wieland, P.C.