President Biden announces new measures to combat COVID-19

President Joe Biden announced on September 9, 2021, his six-pronged comprehensive national strategy—Path out of the Pandemic: President Biden's Covid-19 Action Plan (https://bit.ly/3AA7UpR). The six prongs are (1) vaccinating the unvaccinated, (2) further protecting the vaccinated, (3) keeping schools safely open, (4) increasing testing and requiring masking, (5) protecting our economic recovery, and (6) improving care for those with COVID-19.

Vaccinating the unvaccinated

In his fact sheet, the president directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that will require employers with 100 or more employees to ensure either their employees are fully vaccinated or the unvaccinated employees produce a negative test weekly before coming to work. The ETS also will require these employers to provide paid time off for their employees to get vaccinated or to recover if they are "under the weather post-vaccination." The ETS will be issued without any formal opportunity for comment.