The Supreme Court blocked the vaccine and testing requirements for businesses earlier this month.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a statement that it will pull the rule for businesses on January 26. In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that OSHA had exceeded its authority.
Although Congress has given OSHA the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly.
At least for now, the Biden administration is ending its legal battle over the mandate. The Labor Department will ask the 6th Circuit to dismiss all cases related to the mandate. Dozens of lawsuits were faced by the administration from Republican-led states, private businesses, religious groups and national trade associations. The 6th Circuit has jurisdiction over those cases.
If the labor secretary determines that workers face a grave danger, OSHA can use its emergency powers to shorten the normal rulemaking process. The agency's emergency rules are used to propose permanent regulations. OSHA could try to finalize a permanent vaccine and testing rule in the future.
OSHA is evaluating the record and the evolving course of the Pandemic, but no determinations have been made about when or if a vaccine and testing rule will be finalized.
Under the agency's normal process, a vaccine and testing mandate wouldn't fare any better. The scope of the mandate was the main concern of the Supreme Court's conservative majority.
Businesses with 100 or more employees were required to submit a negative Covid test weekly to enter the workplace under the old rule. 80 million private sector employees would have been covered.
The Supreme Court's decision was a blow to President Joe Biden's plan to control the spread of the virus. Biden wants businesses to implement the requirements.
OSHA will use its powers to protect workers from Covid, according to Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. OSHA can investigate and fine employers if they fail to maintain a safe workplace.
According to a CNBC analysis, the US has reported a seven-day average of more than 731,000 new daily infections, an increase of 4% over last week. New infections have been at higher levels than in the past.
OSHA will shift resources to create a permanent Covid safety standard for health-care workers. The agency pulled emergency rules for the industry in December after missing a deadline to create a permanent safety standard.
The health-care Covid safety standard required most facilities to provide personal protective equipment, install physical barriers in certain areas, clean and disinfect the workplace, and maintain proper ventilation among a number of other measures.
Labor groups have asked a federal appeals court to force OSHA to restore safety rules for health-care workers. OSHA said in a court filing that it was unable to finish a permanent rule for health-care workers because it was tied up preparing the business mandate.
Hospitals around the U.S. are dealing with a surge of patients with the omicron variant. According to the Department of Health and Human Services data, the number of patients in the U.S. hospitals with Covid is higher than it was last winter but down from a week ago.
Many hospitals are facing staff shortages as health-care professionals are forced to call out sick due to the omicron variant.
The president of the American College of Emergency Physicians told CNBC that many places are getting to the point where their backup staff are getting sick.
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