While the California COVID-19 State of Emergency was lifted several months ago, one holdover of the COVID-19 pandemic is the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Regulations (NER), which remain in effect until February 2025.

Under the NER, employers have various obligations to ensure employees are protected in the workplace. Under these regulations, employers have additional obligations should an outbreak occur in the workplace.

The NER relies on the California Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) definition of “outbreak” for purposes of determination. Throughout the pandemic, an outbreak was defined as three or more employees in an exposed group testing positive for COVID-19 within a 14-day period. Now, as of June 20, 2023, CDPH revised its definition to make it less likely for employers to experience an outbreak, changing the definition to 3 positive COVID-19 cases during a 7-day period.

Cal/OSHA has updated its Frequently Asked Questions Page for the NER to reflect these changes as well.