Federal directives and the State of Tennessee are at odds over masks and vaccination mandates.
On September 9th President Joe Biden issued an executive order requiring mandatory vaccination of federal employees and ordered OSHA to craft a regulation requiring businesses with more than one hundred employees to require vaccination or rigorous and constant testing to ensure worker health and safety. The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force was instructed to create guidelines and implementation dates and a deadline was instituted requiring federal employees to receive vaccines by November 22, 2021.
The National Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations concerning large businesses state that employers must comply with vaccine requirements by December 6 and require testing for unvaccinated individuals by January 4th, 2022.
The administration is instant that these measures will help protect workers from spreading the virus.On November 12th, The Tennessee Legislature in a special session passed Senate Bill 9014 and House Bill 9077 amending the Tennessee Code to prohibit by law, required vaccinations, requiring proof of vaccinations, and forbidding mask mandates except as directed by the States Director of Health. The amendment guarantees that unemployment benefits can be granted if a person quits a job in opposition to a required vaccination.The Shelby County Health Department has eased mask restrictions with Health Order number 27 changing the language from requiring masks to highly recommending masks.
The health order mentions that County school mask mandates will remain in place as the legislation and the Governors’ orders prohibiting masks and mandates is being challenged by parents in the courts. A federal judge granted the parents request for an injunction for Lee's Order allowing parents to opt-out of School mask requirements.
Southwest Tn Community college is holding classes virtually this week to mitigate a possible spike in Covid infections after the Holliday weekend. It is yet uncertain how the battle over this issue will play out. With the emergence of a new covid variant of concern, The Omicron Variant, Vaccinations are at the forefront of public health. The state of Tennessee’s legislation is in sharp contrast with the directives being put forth by the Federal government. With schools and businesses struggling to make decisions about how to proceed during this complicated time, the courts may be the final word on this debate.
