Officials in Fairfax County are urging the county executive to “thoroughly explore” a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all government employees as they return to in-person work this fall.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay made a motion during a Tuesday board meeting directing County Executive Bryan Hill to also consider requiring face masks and weekly COVID-19 testing for employees who refuse the vaccine, with exemptions for religious and medical reasons.

“As a large employer, and one that has successfully and consistently stressed to our residents the importance of being vaccinated, we must practice what we preach,” McKay said.

Members of the board approved the motion unanimously. The news was first reported by the Washington Post’s Antonio Olivo.

The Fairfax County Executive is appointed by the Board of Supervisors and administers county government functions.

Fairfax County is Virginia’s largest jurisdiction, with more than 12,000 employees on the government payroll. More than half of county residents have been fully vaccinated, and nearly 80% of adults have received at least one shot. But the rapidly spreading Delta variant has led to a surge of new cases in the county.

If the county adopts a mandate, it would join New York City and the state of California, which recently announced vaccine requirements for government employees. Workers who are not vaccinated must agree to weekly COVID-19 testing.

“None of us wanted to be in this position, but as [sic] we are seeing the Delta variant surging in unvaccinated communities across the country. As a county, we have to do all we can to protect our community and will continue to work to increase vaccination rates, including that of our employees,” McKay said.

This week, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced a vaccine requirement for its health care workers, becoming the first major federal agency to do so, according to the Associated Press. Frontline health care workers at the VA face termination if they are not fully vaccinated.

Vaccine mandates across the country have faced challenges in court, but legal analysts say those challenges are unlikely to succeed, as long as they maintain exemptions for medical or religious reasons. The requirements are also facing pushback from labor unions, who say they must be subject to bargaining.

Public employees in Fairfax County cannot bargain with their employers, but that could change in the months ahead. Statewide legislation that allowed local governments to bargain collectively with employees went into effect in May, and officials are working on a draft ordinance that would permit county workers to form labor agreements with government agencies.