On 2 March 2022, President Biden released his administration’s National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan (Plan) to “enable America to move forward safely” from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Plan focuses on four main areas—(1) protecting against and treating COVID-19, (2) preparing for new variants, (3) preventing economic and educational shutdowns, and (4) continuing global vaccination efforts. This alert addresses the Plan’s directives that affect employers and the workplace.

Consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) updated COVID-19 guidance,¹ the Plan outlines how the country can move on from the COVID-19 pandemic, while also being prepared to respond to new variants and outbreaks. Among other things, the Plan focuses on implementing preventative tools like masking when the community’s risk level is high and studying the impact on healthcare providers and hospitals when making decisions about whether restrictions should be imposed. In adopting this framework, the Plan moves away from generalized mask recommendations, espousing an approach that may permit all individuals to go maskless in most public indoor spaces in low to medium risk areas,² and focuses on the virus’ impact on the healthcare system, rather than the mere number of cases in a given area. To further guide individuals, the administration plans to launch a single public health website that will identify risk levels and recommend preventative measures.

Additionally, the Plan also calls on...

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