Beginning Sept. 20, all of Colorado’s nearly 31,000 state employees must either be vaccinated or be tested twice a week for COVID-19, Gov. Jared Polis announced Friday.

The state currently requires unvaccinated staff to wear masks indoors when around others.

The move matches what President Joe Biden is requiring of federal employees: get vaccinated or face additional restrictions. In his announcement, Polis linked the requirement to the emergence and dominance of the delta variant, which federal officials warned earlier this week was as contagious as chickenpox and can be spread by vaccinated individuals. The variant’s rise, abruptly reversing weeks of reduced COVID-19 transmission nationwide, led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend vaccinated Americans to wear masks in high-risk counties. 

“I have heard from state employees who are terrified that their unvaccinated co-workers will give them COVID-19 and want vaccination mandated, and from other state workers who have hesitation towards the vaccine,” Polis said in a statement. “I think this middle road is the right one to take, respecting the right of state workers to decide while also taking effective steps to address the legitimate safety concerns of fellow state workers.”

State employees who aren’t vaccinated by Sept. 20 must be tested twice weekly. Proof of the test and the results must be submitted to human resources personnel with the state and will be “tracked facility to facility.” 

Earlier this week, UCHealth and Denver Health both announced that they would require their entire workforce, including volunteers and interns, be vaccinated in the coming months or face termination. Polis’s office has previously side-stepped when asked if he will require all state employees be inoculated; when asked last week, his office said they were focusing on encouraging staff. 

It’s unclear how many of the state’s nearly 31,000 workers have been vaccinated. A message sent to a spokesperson for the state Department of Public Health and Environment was not immediately returned Friday afternoon.

Polis’s office said in its announcement that the testing requirement may be phased out or adjusted should COVID19’s presence in Colorado lessen. The number of cases the state reports each day has ticked upward consistently over the latter half of July; more cases were reported Thursday than on any day in June or July.