Skip to Content

Apple Requiring Retail Employees in Some Regions to Wear Masks, Other Employees Encouraged to Do So

Amid spiking cases in the ongoing health crisis, Apple has started urging its employees to wear masks in retail store locations once again, and is mandating it in some areas, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

apple store palo alto
Apple stopped requiring fully vaccinated customers and employees to wear masks at Apple Store locations in June, but with the Delta variant spreading across the United States and impacting even those who have been vaccinated, Apple is being more cautious.


In Santa Clara County where Apple's headquarters are located, local health authorities have begun recommending that masks be worn in indoor public locations, but it is not a mandate. In Los Angeles County, masks are once again required, so Apple employees in this area will indeed be wearing masks.

All Apple stores worldwide are still open at this point in time, and it is not clear if there will be further shutdowns in any areas.

Apple had planned to have its corporate employees return to work in September, but yesterday said that those plans have been delayed until October at the earliest. Corporate employees will be given at least a month's notice before they have to return to work.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple Released Seven New Products Today

Wednesday March 11, 2026 7:05 am PDT by
Starting today, the seven new Apple products that were announced last week are available at Apple Stores and beginning to arrive to customers. The colorful MacBook Neo and all of the other new products are on display at most Apple Store locations around the world starting today. Apple Stores have inventory of the new products for both walk-in customers and Apple Store pickup, but...
iOS 27 Mock Quick

10+ New Features Coming in iOS 27

Friday March 13, 2026 2:13 pm PDT by
We're only three months away from Apple's WWDC 2026 event, which will see the company unveil iOS 27. With the fully revamped version of Siri possibly delayed until September, iOS 27 is shaping up to be the update we wanted iOS 26 to be. There will be new Apple Intelligence features, updates for the iPhone Fold, and more, with the latest rumors summarized below. Foldable iPhone Features...
iOS 27 Mock Quick

iOS 27 Will Reportedly Be Like Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Sunday March 15, 2026 9:42 am PDT by
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reiterated that iOS 27 will be similar to 2009's Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense that one of Apple's biggest priorities is bug fixes for improved performance and stability. During WWDC 2008's State of the Union, Apple showed a slide that said Mac OS X Snow Leopard had "0 new features," as it opted to focus on performance and...

Top Rated Comments

61 months ago
Good for Apple looking out for everyone's health! Get vaccinated, people.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mashdots Avatar
61 months ago

Everyone wore masks for 15 months but COVID still spread like wildfire. Might as well wipe your butt with those stupid things. They’re useless against COVID except for people who are coughing and sneezing, who shouldn’t be out anyway.

We had 8 of those 15 months without vaccine

The issue is a lack of vaccinations. We started well, but now have hit a wall, states like MO aren't helping with 40% or so vaccinations. Also, Florida accounts for 1 in 5 cases across the country

Masks help, vaccinations are the answer
Not to mention, not everyone wore masks. There were tons of reports of public gatherings where people neither wore masks nor socially distanced themselves.

There's plenty of evidence pointing to the fact that they do work; people just need to stop thinking about themselves and mask up.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
61 months ago

Well, now that's absolutely false.
It’s absolutely false? Japan and the Philippines reported mask compliance at over 98% for over a year. Why didn’t COVID disappear in those countries?


The subtext is clear - the honor system of asking unvaccinated people to wear masks didn't work and so now everyone has to wear them since there's no way to tell the groups apart.
Why would everyone have to wear them if vaccines work?
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iGeneo Avatar
61 months ago

Everyone wore masks for 15 months but COVID still spread like wildfire. Might as well wipe your butt with those stupid things. They’re useless against COVID except for people who are coughing and sneezing, who shouldn’t be out anyway.
We had 8 of those 15 months without vaccine

The issue is a lack of vaccinations. We started well, but now have hit a wall, states like MO aren't helping with 40% or so vaccinations. Also, Florida accounts for 1 in 5 cases across the country

Masks help, vaccinations are the answer
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
61 months ago
I'm not interested in protecting anti-vaxxers.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mashdots Avatar
61 months ago

There’s no evidence masks work.
Here's just a handful of studies and articles that point to the fact that masks work.

* https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-mask/art-20485449
* https://files.fast.ai/papers/masks_lit_review.pdf
* https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent
* https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20201119/how-much-does-wearing-a-mask-protect-you
* https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-face-masks-what-you-need-to-know
* https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/masks-save-lives-heres-what-you-need-to-know-2020111921466
* https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33087517/

They're not a perfect solution; nobody said they were. Hell, even vaccines aren't 100% effective, but they work. They reduce the spread and that's what we're trying to do here. Obviously if you want to avoid risk, it's better to stay at home or if you have to go out to practice social distancing and sanitize regularly.


We’re going to wear masks forever?
Not sure. Before COVID, I still saw the occasional traveler wearing a face mask as a precaution (I think the trend started with SARS, but I could be wrong).
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)