Amazon has officially announced that it is removing mask mandates for all employees . This decision applies to all vaccinated and unvaccinated employees. Of course, the implementation of this decision may change depending on local and state laws.
So far, many companies have abolished the requirement to wear a mask and get vaccinated. A few days ago, Google announced that it removed vaccine mandates for all employees. Moreover, Amazon had previously lifted the mandates for vaccinated warehouse workers to wear masks. But in the new decision, even unvaccinated employees can refuse to wear masks.
CNBC spots the Amazon letter to its employees, and the company says, “[This] is an exciting step in our path to normal operations.”
However, in states where masking is still mandatory, Amazon employees must comply with local laws. States like Hawaii, Illinois, Oregon, and Washington still have rules for wearing masks in public and work. California, home to many tech companies, only requires unvaccinated people to wear masks.
Companies are getting back to their pre-Covid normal
So far, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft have lifted some of the requirements for employees to wear masks and get vaccinated. Other companies are also moderating their health policies over wearing masks and vaccination.
These decisions have been made following the decline in Omicron COVID-19 in the United States. Of course, in the future, with the advent of a new variant of Corona, mandatory health policies may be re-adopted.
Amazon says that it still advises its employees to wear masks despite lifting the mandates. Amazon had previously lifted mask restrictions for employees at the end of the COVID-19 Delta variant.
However, the company reintroduced restrictions with the surge of the Omicron variant in December. Of course, Amazon has never stated that vaccination is mandatory for employees.
According to the latest guideline by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 70 percent of Americans can remove masks in areas where COVID-19 hospitalizations were low. This guideline has caused concern to medical professionals. They believe that removing the restrictions may lead to a new Covid-19 variant.
2022-03-02 15:05:14