The fact that these standards were made permanent by the DOLI should give people pause as to the intentions behind creating long term restrictions to what should have been a short term problem. Most other states have dropped masking mandates weeks ago and VA is still waiting to catch up. 

As far as effectiveness, employees are no more protected than before by the burdensome requirements and unvaccinated employees are singled out by forced masking and restrictions on distancing. Masked and vaccinated co-workers have contracted Covid at a higher rate in my workplace than unvaccinated co-workers with symptoms that were worse in many cases. 

Remove the DOLI policies and allow employees to conduct their own risk assessment, especially since customers are allowed these same freedoms.