I am writing to show my support for the repeal of the Permanent Safety Standard for Infectious Disease Prevention:  SARS-CoV-2 / 16VAC25-220, pursuant to Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order 6 signed on January 15, 2022.  The adoption of a permanent standard saddled Virginia’s employers with a standard that did not reflect the latest breakthroughs on the virus and vaccines. Employers should instead be free to work together with their employees without the need to interpret a permanent standard that may be outdated the moment it is published. This creates hazardous risks for employers and their employees.  In the future more measured approaches should be considered by this board when implementing such standards.

COVID-19 no longer poses a “grave danger” to employees based on Virginia’s strong vaccination rates compared to other states (10th in the country as of 02/05/2022) and other studies concluding the Omicron variant is less severe, results in shorter hospital stays and less likely to result in ICU admissions.

Repeal COVID-19 permanent regulations.