USDA Team,

As I mentioned in my email earlier this week, the Delta variant is significantly more contagious than earlier strains of the coronavirus and accounts for over 80% of all new cases in the country. Without question, the health and wellbeing of our employees, contractors and visitors is the top priority at USDA. Beyond protecting our employees, we are also doing our part to prevent the wider spread of this dangerous variant.

Thursday, July 29, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force released updated model safety principles, which include more information about vaccination, levels of transmission, travel and more. This is an important step to help reduce new infections. Included in the model safety principles is the requirement that federal employees, on-site contractors, and on-site visitors attest they are fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Those who are not fully vaccinated or who decline to provide their vaccination status must wear a mask, physically distance, comply with a weekly or twice-weekly screening testing requirement and are subject to government-wide restrictions on official travel, as appropriate. This is being done to help slow the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus and keep the federal workforce, customers, families and all Americans safe.

In the days ahead, we will work closely with the White House, as well as our agencies and staff offices on the implementation of the model safety principles, which is subject to labor negotiations. Additional guidance about when these new requirements will go into effect is forthcoming.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s revised indoor masking guidance—issued earlier this week—remains in effect. As a reminder, our employees, on-site contractors, partners, volunteers, customers and visitors in areas of “substantial” or “high” community COVID-19 transmission are required to wear a mask in federal buildings and government-owned or leased vehicles regardless of vaccination status. The CDC guidance also urges vaccinated people to wear masks indoors if they live with vulnerable family members.

As the virus spreads and changes, so too will the risk mitigating approaches, but know that we remain steadfast in putting our employees, contractors and visitors first. Health and safety are our number one concern.

We are in this together, and we will get through this as a team.

Thank you for your continued patience and dedication to our mission. We will continue to communicate what we know in a timely way and ask that you send any concerns or questions to your pandemic coordinator.

Secretary Vilsack

*If you are a bargaining unit employee and have questions regarding the content of this message and its potential impact on a current labor agreement, please contact your local union representative.  
 
You can also view this message at OneUSDA (internal link)