The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration suspended its COVID-19 health regulations on January 15 to prioritize the adoption of a more comprehensive infectious disease healthcare regulation.
The Agency believes it will be more beneficial to adopt a standard that protects health care workers from exposure to multiple infectious diseases, including COVID-19 and future variants.
On June 21, 2021, OSHA issued an emergency standard to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19 and requested public comment through May 2022. Following the end of the COVID-19 national emergency in April 2023, OSHA announced that it would shift rulemaking and focus to more comprehensive regulation of infectious diseases in healthcare settings.