Upon taking office, President Biden issued an executive order directing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) to decide by March 15 whether an emergency temporary standard was needed relative to COVID-19, and if OSHA determined that COVID-19 posed a “grave danger” to workers, then to issue such a standard. That deadline has come and gone, with no response from OSHA.

Recently, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh requested that the release of such a standard be put on hold to allow OSHA to consider the latest scientific analysis of COVID-19 from the Centers from Disease Control as well as the state of vaccinations and presence of the disease’s variants.