Earlier this month, Amazon introduced that vaccinated warehouse staff (however not unvaccinated ones) had been not required to put on masks. Now, the corporate is making face masks elective at its operations services throughout the US no matter vaccination standing beginning as we speak, in line with a discover despatched to staff seen by CNBC. “[This] is an thrilling step in our path to regular operations,” the letter states.
Workers will nonetheless need to masks up in states that mandate masks utilization at work no matter vaccination standing, together with Hawaii, Illinois, Oregon and Washington. Other states like California solely require unvaccinated people to put on masks.
The transfer comes amid a steep drop in Omicron COVID-19 infections throughout the US. Amazon confirmed that the discover was actual, however instructed CNBC it nonetheless strongly recommends that unvaccinated workers proceed to put on masks.
Amazon had beforehand dropped masks restrictions towards the tip of the COVID-19 Delta variant outbreak, however was pressured to revive them in December as Omicron started to surge. Unlike Google and different tech firms, Amazon by no means required vaccinations for staff.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched new steering final week permitting round 70 p.c of Americans to take away face coverings in areas the place COVID-19 hospitalizations had been low. However, some medical professionals are nonetheless involved about safety for the aged, immunocompromised and different susceptible people.