LANSING, MI (MPRN)-- State employees are being told they once again have to mask up at the office as a COVID-19 health precaution.
The policy applies to 47,000 state employees who work in an office or other indoor setting.
“Beginning today, on Monday, all state employees are going to need to wear a mask regardless of whether they’re vaccinated or not,” said Kurt Weiss of the State Budget Office. “Obviously, over the last few weeks, some of the trends that we’ve seen with the variants and so forth are concerning, and so the decision was made to require the masks for everyone just because the state does have an obligation to provide a safe workplace for everybody.”
The majority of counties in Michigan now have what the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention high or substantial transmission of the virus. That’s because of the number of new cases and because the rate of positive tests is back above eight percent.
State officials are also urging school districts and local health departments to adopt mask requirements, but neither Governor Gretchen Whitmer or the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services have issued any mandate to do so.