D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine announced Wednesday that almost all of his office’s 634 employees will be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine before returning to in-person work on Sept. 13, except those who claim a religious, medical, or emergency-use exemption.

Those who are approved for an exemption to the vaccine mandate will have to undergo a COVID-19 test every week, according to the announcement. All employees will also be required to wear masks at work, unless they are sitting alone in an office, or when eating or drinking.

“Every day at OAG, we come to work seeking to protect District residents and keep them safe. That mantra applies to our own employees as well. At OAG, protecting our employees — especially as they start to come back to work — is paramount. Each of us must do our part to protect ourselves and our communities from COVID-19,” Racine said in a statement.

The order also includes rewards for vaccinated employees and consequences for those who do not get a vaccine and do not have an exemption. Employees who report that they are vaccinated by mid-September will get eight hours of time off. Those who refuse to get vaccinated without an exemption and who do not get regular tests can be placed on unpaid leave for up to 30 days.

Racine’s announcement comes as cases of the delta variant rise in the D.C. area, and less than a week after Mayor Muriel Bowser reimposed an indoor mask mandate for the District as a means to limit the spread of the highly transmissible coronavirus variant.

It’s also the first such vaccine requirement of its kind in the D.C. government, one that Racine was able to make because his office is independent of the mayor. An official in Racine’s office says the new mandate came after discussions with staff and employee unions, as well as a survey of other municipalities.

Bowser has thus far avoided any such mandate for the broader city workforce, even as President Joe Biden imposed one for federal workers and New York City and Fairfax County rolled out their own. Vaccination rates have varied from agency to agency, with the Office of Unified Communications reportedly being as low as 35% and the Metropolitan Police Department hovering in the 60% range. (Citywide, an estimated 54% of residents are fully vaccinated as of July 26.)

Speaking on WAMU’s “The Politics Hour” last week, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee III said he would rely on Bowser’s guidance — should any be forthcoming — for whether to require his employees to get vaccinated.

“I don’t know ultimately what will happen [with] people who chose not to get vaccinated. I would like to see everybody vaccinated. But, people who chose not to we [could] require some regular testing, be it every three days, every week, whatever. But require some regular tests. I think New York is doing that. Seems to be working okay for them so far. But we’ll follow whatever guidance comes out. MPD will be in compliance,” he said.

Bowser’s office did not immediately respond to questions on whether she would impose her own vaccination mandate for city workers, many of whom returned to their offices last month.

For as ironclad as Racine’s vaccination requirement seems, it does offer one large loophole: the emergency use exemption. According to the mandate, any employee will be able to cite the fact that COVID-19 vaccines remains under emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration.  The FDA does not mandate vaccination, but an employer, state or local government may require vaccination under state “or other applicable law,” according to CDC guidance.

“When the FDA fully approves at least one vaccination for adults 18 and older, the emergency use exemption will no longer be available,” reads Racine’s order.