On Dec. 15, 2021, the Acting NYS Commissioner of Health, Mary T. Bassett, M.D., M.P.H., announced the third extension of the designation of COVID-19 as a “highly contagious communicable disease that presents a serious risk of harm to the public health” through Jan. 15, 2022. 

As previously reported and as reiterated in the latest extension, the Commission of Health’s designation appears to rely in large part on the CDC’s community transmission levels. In light of the latest surge and the emergence of the new Omicron variant, it is difficult to predict with any degree of certainty whether the transmission in New York State will fall to a “moderate” or “low” levels in the course of the next month. 

Accordingly, private employers should continue to have their NY HERO Act Airborne Infectious Disease Exposure Prevention Plans in place.