Charlottesville updates COVID-19 masking requirements for city employees

Charlottesville City Manager Chip Boyles has approved an Executive Order and Public Safety Order establishing updated workplace rules for the wearing of masks by city employees to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 in city workplaces and on city property.

As the city begins welcoming our community back to our re-opened Parks & Recreation facilities and the Farmer’s Market, and as the city continues to provide limited access to some offices in City Hall, the order is intended to guide our staff’s behaviors and to ensure the public that staff is placing a high priority on their safety and the health and well-being of our staff.

The city is adjusting its protocols in accordance with Gov. Ralph Northam’s recent relaxation of masking and social distancing requirements in Virginia. According to the city, more than 70 percent of city employees are fully vaccinated.

If you interact with city employees outdoors, some may continue to wear a mask and others may not. Fully-vaccinated employees are no longer required to practice social distancing or wear masks while engaged in performance of their city job duties within an outdoor city workplace.

Inside city facilities, all city employees regardless of vaccination status will wear masks when they are interacting with the public and when there are no protective barriers and/or when physical distancing is not possible.

City employees will not ask the public to disclose whether or not they are vaccinated. The city encourages members of the public who are not fully-vaccinated to take the same precautions as our staff and to continue to wear a mask and practice social distancing.

The requirements of this Executive Order shall be in effect beginning May 28 and shall continue for so long as the Governor’s Statewide Declared State of Emergency remains in affect (until at least June 30) and thereafter, for so long as the city’s Local State of Emergency continues in effect (until City Council specifically takes action concluding the local emergency). On the effective date of a City Council action terminating the local state of emergency, this policy shall expire automatically.