New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that the Empire State will follow the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recent recommendation that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can largely eschew mask and physical distancing requirements, while OSHA and the EEOC each said they are reviewing the CDC's new position.
Cuomo said Monday that his state as of May 19 will update its COVID-19 safety rules to track guidance
issued last week by the CDC that recommends loosening virus-related restrictions among those who are inoculated against COVID-19.
The CDC said in its May 13 guidance that people who are fully vaccinated — meaning they are two weeks removed from their final vaccine — don't have to wear a mask or physically distance indoors or outdoors, save for certain exceptions, so long as no laws require otherwise.
Additionally, vaccinated people don't have to undergo COVID-19 testing after they have been exposed to the coronavirus in most circumstances and don't have to quarantine following exposure if they don't display symptoms of illness, according to the CDC's guidance.
Cuomo on Monday cautioned that while some people, such as those who are immunocompromised, should keep wearing masks and social distancing, those who are vaccinated "are safe" and can proceed with "no masks, no social distancing," he said during a press briefing. "We're also going to follow the CDC's guidelines that you will still need to wear a mask on public transportation, the subways, the buses, nursing homes, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, schools and health care facilities."
"Individual private venues still have the ability to add additional guidelines to the state guidelines and the CDC guidelines," Cuomo added. "But, for our part, we're adopting the CDC [guidance] and we're saying let's open."
While the CDC's guidance was notable, it also raised numerous questions among employment law observers, such as how states and other federal agencies would respond to it given that many have adopted COVID-19 safety guidelines of their own.
Besides Cuomo's announcement, the CDC's closely watched guidance has drawn guarded responses from several federal agencies that oversee American workplaces.
The
U.S. Department of Labor posted a short notice on its website acknowledging the CDC's guidance and hinting that it may soon update its own workplace safety guidance. In the meantime, the agency said employers can follow the CDC's directives.
"[The
Occupational Safety and Health Administration] is reviewing the recent CDC guidance and will update our materials on this website accordingly," the agency said in a notice on its website that is affixed to guidance
it issued on Jan. 29. "Until those updates are complete, please refer to the CDC guidance for information on measures appropriate to protect fully vaccinated workers."
OSHA's Jan. 29 guidance, which is still in effect, detailed a list of practices OSHA suggests employers follow to reduce the risk of the coronavirus spreading in their workplaces. Among them was a recommendation that employers should require workers to wear masks and follow other practices meant to stem the spread of COVID-19, even after they have been vaccinated.
The
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which itself has issued multiple rounds of guidance since the pandemic began, has similarly posted an acknowledgement of the CDC's new position.
A notation was added to a section of the EEOC's website that houses a technical assistance document the agency updated periodically in 2020 to answer questions surrounding employers' response to the coronavirus pandemic pertaining to issues involving Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, among other things.
The document was
last updated in December when the EEOC tackled numerous questions related to vaccinations.
The EEOC's most recent notation highlighted that the document precedes the CDC's May 13 guidance, with the workplace bias watchdog adding that it is "considering any impact of these developments on COVID-19 technical assistance provided to date."
--Editing by Leah Bennett.
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