Apple Drops Mask Requirement for Corporate Workers at 'Most Locations'

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Apple is dropping its mask requirements for corporate employees at "most locations," according to an internal memo obtained by The Verge.

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Apple's COVID-19 Response Team on Monday told corporate employees that the company is updating current protocols "in light of current circumstances," and urged staff to continue wearing a face mask if they feel more comfortable doing so.

Apple also noted in the email that "everyone's personal circumstances are different" and reminded corporate employees to respect every individual's decision to wear a mask or not.

Apple has been shifting its operating policies throughout the pandemic to keep in line with local regulations and to mitigate risk for employees and customers in areas where COVID is spiking.

For example, Apple in March relaxed its mask requirements for its retail employees in the United States due to a decline in Covid-19 cases and a relaxation of local mandates.

The latest move however comes amid a fresh wave of infections in California that were first identified in the Bay Area, due to the highly-contagious Omicron BA.5 subvariant.


Apple is still operating a hybrid home/office work policy for corporate employees in the United States. Staff began returning to their offices on April 11 for one day a week, ending a two-year work from home policy that Apple implemented during the pandemic.

Apple originally planned to have staff in the office for three days of the week by May 23, but the company reversed the decision after a surge in infections, and a two-day requirement was imposed on May 4.

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Tag: COVID-19 Coronavirus Guide

Top Rated Comments

MaxBurn Avatar
MaxBurn
23 months ago
My main takeaway was I can't believe they left it this long to drop masking.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GuruZac Avatar
GuruZac
23 months ago

Good to get some feedback and advice from noted virologist / epidemiologist Mark Gurman...

Fixed that for you. This has nothing to do with free healthcare, it has everything to do with the UK government trying to convince everyone that covid is over when, even though cases are slowly declining, it very clearly isn't ('https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases?areaType=nation&areaName=England') (currently still 10-20k new cases/day in England).
Positive cases don’t and have never mattered. What has always mattered were hospitalizations, and at our hospital system and my brother’s in a different state, they aren’t seeing any hospitalizations due to COVID. People are incidentally testing positive. Most are mildly or completely asymptomatic.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zahuh Avatar
zahuh
23 months ago
Free healthcare in the UK means that we haven’t thought about Covid for a very long time. UK gave 21 free at home tests per month to each person 1.5 years before the US gave 2 for everyone. I think the last restrictions here was lifted over a year ago. Sad to see the richest state in history in the richest country in history is still dealing with this…all over a lie that free healthcare will completely backup the healthcare system. We in Europe are not as brilliant as you all in the states and have figured it out. Is it perfect? No, but what you’re going through is in deep need of change.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BrownyQ Avatar
BrownyQ
23 months ago

“Don’t hesitate to continue wearing a face mask if you feel more comfortable doing so. Also, please respect every individual’s decision to wear a mask or not.”
This is probably the best part of the message. Live and let live; be responsible for your own health and let the rest do the same.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
verpeiler Avatar
verpeiler
23 months ago

Right call on Apple’s part. It’s an endemic respiratory virus. As it continues to mutate in to new variants it gets further away from a highly morbid/mortal virus and one more and more similar to other coronaviruses. At the hospital system I work at, if you test positive and are asymptomatic, you can still work with an N95 on.
Covid is not just a respiratory virus. And there’s actually no hint that it would mutate into a more mild variant, why would it anyway? That’s all wishful thinking.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cane811 Avatar
cane811
23 months ago

Free healthcare in the UK means that we haven’t thought about Covid for a very long time. UK gave 21 free at home tests per month to each person 1.5 years before the US gave 2 for everyone. I think the last restrictions here was lifted over a year ago. Sad to see the richest state in history in the richest country in history is still dealing with this…all over a lie that free healthcare will completely backup the healthcare system. We in Europe are not as brilliant as you all in the states and have figured it out. Is it perfect? No, but what you’re going through is in deep need of change.
Free lol
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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