On Friday, CDPH updated their COVID-19 guidance on Isolation and Quarantine and revised their Public Health Order (see press release HERE), resulting in changes for COVID-19 compliance across the state. The focus of the changes appears to be slight easing of testing requirements to end quarantine and a slightly easier ending to masking. 

The question I am getting is – what does this mean for Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 regulation and California’s employers? The short answer: it will likely lead to changes in Cal/OSHA’s enforcement in parallel, but we will need to wait a few days to see. The Order doesn’t go into effect until March 13th, and I am expecting to see FAQ updates from Cal/OSHA by the end of this week.

I can also offer a bit more clarity on the updated CDPH guidance from CDPH and Cal/OSHA.

Easier to return if feeling well: “Beginning March 13, a COVID-19 positive person may end isolation after five days if they feel well, have improving symptoms, and are fever-free for 24 hours” – In other words, you no longer need a negative test to return to the workplace before Day 10. CDPH’s thought here was, with testing no longer available for free, it didn’t make sense to require a test to return to work.

How does this affect the workplace? Because the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 regulation relies on the CDPH of infectious period (Section 3205(b)(9)), that will be incorporated and will make it easier for employees to return to work if they have improving symptoms and are fever free.

Masking Changes: This is more complicated. Here, the guidance provides that “persons may remove their masks sooner than Day 10 with two sequential negative tests one day apart.” Though this is a small lightening of masking, it is likely to be functionally moot for a few reasons.



1. Cal/OSHA’s regulation isn’t reliant on CDPH orders here, so it appears that Cal/OSHA’s masking requirements in the regulation will remain in effect as written.
2. Even assuming Cal/OSHA chooses to make changes to bring this into the regulation (or creatively interpret the existing text to allow this change), back-to-back testing for employees returning may be relatively rare for most employers due to the cost of testing vs the cost of masking, so this exception would see minimal usage.

We will need to wait for Cal/OSHA’s FAQ’s to confirm this understanding, which Cal/OSHA expects to post around the 10th (this Friday). This is a short turn-around, given that the changes will go into effect on the 13th … but the changes aren’t likely to generate enforcement issues because they are basically a slight easing of return to work.

Feel free to reach out with any questions – but I can’t promise that I will have better information until the FAQ’s come out Friday which we will share with members as soon as it is posted. 

As always, do not hesitate to reach out to me directly if I can be helpful in anyway.

Rachel