GE suspends Govt vaccination, test rules after High Court rejects Biden order

General Electric A spokesman for the company told CNBC on Friday that the Supreme Court had suspended its Govt vaccination and testing requirement following an order by the Biden administration.

The GE, which had 174,000 employees by the end of 2020, has encouraged its employees to be vaccinated, a spokesman said.

Conservative majority of the Supreme Court, In Judgment 6-3, Calls the Biden management’s requirements a “blunt instrument” that “does not make any distinction based on the risk to the industry or the Covid-19.”

President Joe Biden, in a statement after the court decision, called on companies to voluntarily implement the vaccination and testing rules.

“The court has ruled that my administration cannot use the power granted by Congress to carry out this action,” Biden said. “But that doesn’t stop me from using my voice as president to argue that employers should do the right thing to protect the health and economy of Americans.”

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh has vowed to use the current powers of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to hold businesses accountable for protecting workers against Govt.

“We urge all employers to vaccinate or test workers on a weekly basis to effectively combat this deadly virus in the workplace,” Walsh said in a statement Thursday. “Employers are responsible for the safety of their workers at work.”

The American Medical Association, one of the largest groups of physicians in the United States, has denied that the Supreme Court has blocked “one of the most effective tools in the fight against further spread of this invasive virus and death.”

“Workplace transfers are a key factor in the spread of Covit-19,” said AMA President Dr. Gerald Harmon. “Now more than ever, workers in all organizations across the country need general knowledge and evidence-based protections against Govt-19 infection, hospitalization and death.”

Harmon urged businesses to protect their workers from the disease. Several large companies, including Citigroup, Nike and Columbia Sportswear, have said they will begin laying off non-vaccinated workers.

The Govit Omigran variant is driving new infections to unprecedented levels. According to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University, the United States reports an average of more than 786,000 new infections each day, 29% more than last week.

In addition, hospital admissions are high based on federal data for the summer of 2020. As of Friday, about 151,000 Americans were hospitalized with Govt disease, a seven-day average of health and human services data, up 23%. From a week ago. That number includes both patients admitted to the hospital due to Govt and those tested positive after admission.

– CNBC’s Nate Ratner contributed to this report