Health and social policy

Executive Order 13991: Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing

President: Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Required masks, distancing and other CDC-aligned measures in federal buildings and on federal lands and created the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force.

Status: Revoked.

Is Executive Order 13991 still in effect? No. Revoked April 12, 2024 after emergency phase.

Masked office workers sit at spaced desks beneath stylized ventilation currents and a health shield.
Federal workplace precautions, illustrated symbolically; not a photograph of an operating workplace. EO Explained · site-generated editorial illustration · not documentary evidence.

What does Executive Order 13991 do?

The order also created a task force to set model safety principles for federal workplaces and federal lands.

Administration position: The order’s findings and policy rationale were the Biden administration’s positions. This guide distinguishes them from implementation records and judicial rulings.
SignedJanuary 20, 2021
Lead officialsSafer Federal Workforce Task Force and agency heads
Express timingImmediate and guidance-driven

Before and after

Before the order

Federal workplaces followed agency-specific COVID precautions during an active pandemic emergency.

After the order

Agencies implemented safety plans and adjusted them as CDC guidance changed; Biden’s EO 14122 revoked this order and dissolved the task force in April 2024.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
AgenciesRequire compliance in federal workplaces and landsDuring emergency
Task ForceIssue model safety principles2021–24

What happened next

EO 13991 signed.

Federal public-health emergency ended.

EO 14122 revoked EO 13991.