“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Charles Dickens wrote those words more than 160 years ago, but they ring true today as we seek to protect workers in the wake of the pandemic. In the same week that highly effective coronavirus vaccines became available to the public, we continued to see record-breaking infection rates and deaths from COVID-19. We have learned effective methods for preventing transmission of the virus, but coronavirus fatigue has led to lapses that are sickening employees.

Once coronavirus vaccinations become widely available, legal experts have suggested that companies will be able to require them for most employees as a condition of work. In the meantime, preventing COVID-19 outbreaks will continue to dominate health and safety priorities for businesses in 2021