President Biden and Governor Northam are set to make a join appearance today to celebrate the end of distancing, capacity, and other regulations in the Commonwealth. Despite the celebration, onerous and unnecessary rules are and will remain in place through the middle of July — two weeks after the Governor has said he would end the ongoing State of Emergency.

House Republican Leader Todd Gilbert issued the following statement on President Biden’s visit to Virginia:

“President Biden and Governor Northam can pretend that onerous COVID restrictions are a thing of the past in Virginia, but the truth is something else entirely. Virtually every workplace in Virginia is still bound by law to continue acting like it’s April 2020 thanks to the inflexible workplace ‘safety’ rules put in place by the Department of Labor and Industry at the insistence of Democrats.

“These rules still require frequent surface cleanings, masking for employees, and other mitigation measures — even for employees who are fully vaccinated. Republicans warned these rules were inflexible and likely to become outdated before they were ever put in place, and sadly, we were right.

“It’s time for the Governor to end the state of emergency so that these inflexible, unscientific rules can be rolled back and businesses can stop wasting time and money on ‘safety’ measures that are clearly no longer needed.”