Apple urging retail staff to wear masks again even if they're vaccinated
Amid a surge in more infectious Covid variants, Apple is recommending that its brick-and-mortar Apple Store staff begin wearing masks again.
Credit: Apple
As the more transmissible Delta variant continues to spread, Apple is urging that its retail staffers start wearing masks whether they are fully vaccinated or not, Bloomberg reported in a story update Tuesday. Retail workers must also comply with any regional health regulations, including mask mandates.
Apple had dropped its own internal mask mandate and eased other restrictions in May and June.
Staff at AppleInsider can confirm that Apple retail employees, vaccinated or not, have again started donning masks across the U.S.
Apple CEO Tim Cook had told staffers in June that they should expect to be returning to in-person work for a few days a week by September. The company recently walked back those plans until October at the earliest.
The company is said to be working on a new hybrid work model for retail staffers dubbed "Retail Flex." The new model would see brick-and-mortar staff work some weeks at Apple Store locations and other weeks at home conducting customer service and online sales tasks.
In the U.S., both hospitalizations and deaths are now increasing, especially among the unvaccinated. The more infectious Delta variant now accounts for 83% of new Covid cases in the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.
Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast -- and get a fast news update from AppleInsider Daily. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too.If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.
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Credit: Apple
As the more transmissible Delta variant continues to spread, Apple is urging that its retail staffers start wearing masks whether they are fully vaccinated or not, Bloomberg reported in a story update Tuesday. Retail workers must also comply with any regional health regulations, including mask mandates.
Apple had dropped its own internal mask mandate and eased other restrictions in May and June.
Staff at AppleInsider can confirm that Apple retail employees, vaccinated or not, have again started donning masks across the U.S.
Apple CEO Tim Cook had told staffers in June that they should expect to be returning to in-person work for a few days a week by September. The company recently walked back those plans until October at the earliest.
The company is said to be working on a new hybrid work model for retail staffers dubbed "Retail Flex." The new model would see brick-and-mortar staff work some weeks at Apple Store locations and other weeks at home conducting customer service and online sales tasks.
In the U.S., both hospitalizations and deaths are now increasing, especially among the unvaccinated. The more infectious Delta variant now accounts for 83% of new Covid cases in the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.
Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast -- and get a fast news update from AppleInsider Daily. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too.If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
I now see plenty of businesses saying that if you're vaccinated you don't have to wear a mask, but for unvaccinated people to wear them. Are unvaccinated people going to wear masks? Not the ones that I know.
N95 masks are designed to minimize incoming exposure and transmission. Proper cloth masks are designed to reduce transmission. They help capture the viruses encapsulated in micro droplets as you breathe out, reducing the chance of a contagious person from spreading the virus.
Simply not true.
But on the other hand, the government is so incompetent it would be a complete mess. I got a letter from my county health department saying they had no record of me getting my second Pfizer shot. I got both shots at the same county vaccination center and have my county vaccination card with both stickers showing the dates and time of both shots. See what I mean?
For example, where my wife works (LTC), vaccinated workers don't have to wear masks or get tested. Unvaccinated workers have to wear masks and get texted 3x per week. The problem is, vaccinated people can contract and spread Covid.
Things either need to be one way or the other (ie. follow the science, or toss it all out). This inconsistency is maddening (which might be the point?).
The actual controlled studies (pre-Covid) showed masks were neutral to slightly ineffective, while posing certain health risks, but they were done mostly in medical environments. That's the science. (As with about anything else, observation and theoretical studies get poo-poo'd.)
The observational studies since Covid, seem to show some effectiveness, but of course we could be looking at correlation, not causation. The theoretical studies also seem to show they *should* have an impact, but real-world and theoretical often vary.
It isn't so much that they do nothing (even a 2% improvement for cloth masks is something), but that in the grand scheme, once you factor in everything else (like air circulation, particle densities, what the threshold of infection is, etc.) they end up not mattering too much.
That's aerosol, though. If we're talking droplets, then yes they work (at least to a greater extent). But, hopefully we don't have a bunch of symptomatic people running around coughing on everyone. (I suppose that could be the case, but I've not seen it anywhere. I think even people with coughs are afraid to go out in public, even WITH a mask these days.)
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/flu-has-disappeared-worldwide-during-the-covid-pandemic1/
It was almost certainly a combination of social distancing and mask wearing that drove that low number of flu deaths this flu season. Americans are only now understanding the benefits of wearing masks during flu season, something that has been standard procedure in Asia.
EDIT;
added an additional link to research on mask use;
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2014564118
I honestly think there are some people who only think in black and white. If it's not 100% true one way or the other, their brain can't comprehend it. Cloth masks aren't anywhere near 100% effective at stopping transmission (nothing is), but if they're worn properly, they're definitely better than nothing at all.
But, yeah, asshole Republicans.