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OSHA Discussing Possible Mask Mandate Even After CDC Guideline Change

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Americans have recently been feeling a lot more normal than they have in a while, thanks to the continued dissipation of the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thanks to a year’s worth of social distancing and a new push to vaccinate the masses, the coronavirus crisis is quickly coming to and end here in the United States.  Things have improved so much, in fact, that the CDC has adjusted their mask-wearing guidelines to give a great deal of freedom back to those who’ve been inoculated against the virus.

Despite this, it appears as though the Biden administration isn’t quite ready to let go of the facial coverings.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) may still issue a workplace mask mandate consistent with a January executive order from President Biden despite new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines that vaccinated Americans do not need to wear masks indoors.

Biden’s Jan. 21 executive order directed his administration to “consider whether any emergency temporary standards on COVID-19, including with respect to masks in the workplace, are necessary.” The order set a deadline of March 15, which was missed.

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at the time that the White House was giving OSHA, which is housed in the Department of Labor, “time to get it right and time to ensure it’s right.”

Some in Washington were not in favor of the confusing regulatory landscape.

A group of House Republicans on the Committee on Education and Labor sent a letter to Labor Secretary Marty Walsh on Monday asking him to put the brakes on any new workplace rules considering the proliferation of vaccines and the new CDC guidance.

“We write to express our strong disapproval of your decision to move forward with this ill-advised and unnecessary rulemaking,” the group wrote.

“Instead, we encourage DOL to continue working with CDC on COVID-19 guidance and update OSHA’s guidance to align with the latest science to ensure the nation’s economic recovery continues and Americans can continue to return to work,” the Republicans also said.

States such as Florida and Texas have legislated heavily in the other direction of late, hoping to tamp down any possibility that facets of our government could continue to push such restrictive practices far into the future.

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About the Author:
As a lifelong advocate for the dream promised us in the Constitution, Andrew West has spent his years authoring lush prose editorial dirges regarding America's fall from grace and her path back to prosperity. When West isn't railing against the offensive whims of the mainstream media or the ideological cruelty that is so rampant in the US, he spends his time seeking adventurous new food and fermented beverages, with the occasional round of golf peppered in.




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