File Photo – U.S. President Joe Biden. | Photo: Alex Vucha / Lake and McHenry County Scanner.

President Joe Biden is expected to announce that employees who work at companies with 100 or more workers will be required to take the COVID-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing.

The Associated Press (AP) reported Biden will make the announcement later on Thursday as part of an effort to increase COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the delta variant surge.

Biden will be instructing the Department of Labor to draft a rule mandating all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated.

Those who do not get vaccinated will be required to get COVID tested weekly, the New York Times reported.

Biden will also require vaccinations for those in the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government.

Those who work at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid will also have to be vaccinated with no option of weekly testing, the AP reported.

The mandates will affect about 100 million Americans.

“Our overarching objective here is to reduce the number of unvaccinated Americans,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a Thursday briefing.

On Wednesday, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) reported 61 deaths from COVID-19, which is the most reported in a single day since February.

IDPH reported 3,961 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and 4,741 new cases on Thursday.

As of Tuesday, 2,327 people were hospitalized throughout Illinois with COVID-19 and 565 people were in the ICU with the virus.

60% of Illinois residents 12 and older are fully vaccinated while 77% of the demographic has received at least one dose of the vaccine.