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Visitors

Q: What alternative procedures should agencies put in place for visitors unable to access Federal facilities due to mask-wearing, symptom screening, or other requirements in place pursuant to Executive Order 13991 on “Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing” and Safer Federal Workforce Task Force and agency guidance?

A: Agencies must develop and implement alternative procedures that allow for persons who are denied access to a Federal facility to receive services, including obtaining any Federal benefits or other services to which the individual is entitled, such as monetary benefit payments or required adjudicative appointments or hearings.

Q: Should agencies inquire regarding the vaccination status of visitors to Federal buildings?

A: To be consistent with Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance, agencies should pause asking visitors to provide information about their COVID-19 vaccination status, where COVID-19 safety protocols do not vary based on vaccination status. This is true regardless of COVID-19 Community Levels.

If an agency head approves an exception—following consultation with the agency COVID-19 Coordination Team, including the agency Office of General Counsel, and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force—for asking visitors about their vaccination status because of setting-specific dependencies on vaccination information, then the agency would need to use an agency-specific form approved separately by OMB, and the agency must comply with any applicable Federal laws, including the Privacy Act of 1974. The previously issued Government-wide Certification of Vaccination form must not be used. To be consistent with Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance, agencies should not collect vaccination information from visitors in any setting.

Q: Should visitors to Federal facilities provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test?

A: Pursuant to Executive Order 13991 and CDC guidance, agencies must not put in place or implement any requirements that visitors, solely because of their vaccination status, need to be able to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test when accessing or in Federal facilities, or at an agency-hosted meeting, event, or conference. This is true regardless of COVID-19 Community Levels.

Following consultation with the agency COVID-19 Coordination Teams, including the agency Office of General Counsel, and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force, an agency may establish COVID-19 point-in-time screening testing requirements for visitors accessing high-risk settings within Federal facilities, except for those visitors seeking to obtain a public service or benefit. Point-in-time screening testing is the testing on a situational basis of asymptomatic persons without recent known or suspected exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, for purposes of early identification, isolation, and disease prevention. For the purposes of this guidance, high-risk settings include certain Federal facilities—or certain specific settings within Federal facilities—where (1) COVID-19 transmission risk is high, and (2) the population present onsite is at high risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 or there is limited access to healthcare. When an agency has identified potential high-risk settings across its facilities, the agency should consult with the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force to confirm that those settings are high-risk and that conducting point-in-time screening testing in those facilities would be consistent with CDC and Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance, and should consult with agency legal counsel on implementation.

If an agency has established such requirements for high-risk settings, then when COVID-19 Community Levels are MEDIUM or HIGH in the county where the Federal facilities with those high-risk settings are located, agencies must require visitors (except those seeking a public service or benefit), regardless of vaccination status, to be able to provide proof that they received a negative test result within 24 hours of accessing that Federal facility or high-risk setting from a viral test authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to detect current COVID-19 infection, pursuant to Executive Order 13991 and consistent with CDC guidance.

Should visitors seeking to access GSA-controlled facilities or other Federal facilities be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or up to date with COVID-19 vaccines as a condition of entry?

A: No. To be consistent with Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance, agencies should not require visitors seeking to access GSA-controlled facilities or other Federal facilities to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or up to date with COVID-19 vaccines as a condition of entry at any time. Visitors should follow required COVID-19 workplace safety protocols while accessing the facility.

Q: Are there restrictions on the size of agency-hosted in-person meetings, events, or conferences?

A: No. For agency-hosted meetings, events, and conferences, there are no Government-wide restrictions, and agencies do not need to first seek approval of agency heads, regardless of the expected number of in-person participants or local COVID-19 Community Levels, unless otherwise required to do so by agency policy. All in-person attendees at any meetings, conferences, or events hosted by Federal agencies must comply with relevant COVID-19 safety protocols, including as it relates to any mask-wearing when COVID-19 Community Levels are HIGH, pursuant to Executive Order 13991 and consistent with CDC guidance.

Q: Should in-person attendees at meetings, conferences, and events hosted by an agency be asked to provide information about vaccination status?

A: To be consistent with Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance, agencies should pause asking in-person attendees at agency-hosted meetings, events, and conferences to provide information about their COVID-19 vaccination status, where COVID-19 safety protocols at the meeting, event, or conference location do not vary based on vaccination status. This is true regardless of COVID-19 Community Levels.

If an agency head approves an exception—following consultation with the agency COVID-19 Coordination Team, including the agency Office of General Counsel, and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force—for asking in-person attendees at agency-hosted meetings, events, and conferences about their vaccination status because of setting-specific dependencies on vaccination information, then the agency would need to use an agency-specific form approved separately by OMB, and the agency must comply with any applicable Federal laws, including the Privacy Act of 1974. The previously issued Government-wide Certification of Vaccination form must not be used. To be consistent with Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance, agencies should not collect vaccination information from visitors in any setting, including those attending agency-hosted meetings, events, or conferences in person.

Q: Should agencies require in-person attendees at meetings, conferences, and events hosted by the agency to be able to provide proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test?

A: Agencies must not require that in-person attendees at agency-hosted meetings, events, and conferences need to be able to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test based on their vaccination status.

In consultation with the agency COVID-19 Coordination Team, the agency Office of General Counsel, and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force, an agency may establish COVID-19 point-in-time screening testing requirements for in-person attendees at agency-hosted meetings, events, or conferences taking place in high-risk settings within Federal facilities or high-risk non-Federal settings. Point-in-time screening testing is the testing on a situational basis of asymptomatic persons without recent known or suspected exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, for purposes of early identification, isolation, and disease prevention. For the purposes of this guidance, high-risk settings include certain Federal facilities—or certain specific settings within Federal facilities—where (1) COVID-19 transmission risk is high, and (2) the population present onsite is at high risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 or there is limited access to healthcare.

If an agency has established such requirements, then when COVID-19 Community Levels are MEDIUM or HIGH where those high-risk settings within Federal facilities are located, pursuant to Executive Order 13991 and consistent with CDC guidance, agencies must require all in-person attendees at agency-hosted meetings, events, or conferences taking place in those high-risk settings, regardless of vaccination status, to be able to provide proof that they received a negative test result within 24 hours of attending the meeting, event, or conference from a viral test authorized by the FDA to detect current COVID-19 infection.

To be consistent with Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance, agencies should not establish point-in-time screening testing requirements for in-person attendees at agency-hosted meetings, events, and conferences taking place in other settings, absent an exception approved by the agency head following consultation with the agency COVID-19 Coordination Team, including the agency Office of General Counsel, and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force.