On September 9th, President Biden announced that businesses with 100 or more employees will be forced to fire workers who have not obtained a COVID-19 vaccine. This rule is expected to be drafted and enforced by the federal government’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). However, the details of this new regulation have not yet been released. If businesses refuse to fire unvaccinated employees, they could face a $13,600 fine for each instance of non-compliance.

According to the Virginia Employment Commission, there are 136 business in Prince William County with 100 or more employees. Data from October 2nd suggests that 26,378 Prince William County citizens could be impacted by this new proposal. Although our local economy has been slowly recovering, there were still 2,968 more unemployed Prince William County residents in August 2021 compared to August 2019 despite increased population growth.

– Coles District Staff