Bloomberg: Some Apple Stores Going “Masking Optional” for Employees
It looks like masking for Apple employees will soon be left up to the employees themselves. MacRumors highlights a Bloomberg report saying:
Apple is planning to drop its mask requirements for retail and corporate employees in the United States due to a decline in Covid-19 cases and a relaxation of local mandates…
Local conditions trump all, of course. The piece says masks were already optional for vaccinated office workers, assuming local indoor mask mandates had ended. Now, that’s spreading to stores. MacRumors says a “small number” of Apple Retail locations have heard that masks will be optional for their store starting today. That’s expected to expand to more locations, as more regions drop their mask mandates.
Despite the relaxed rules, Apple still thinks masking up is the best idea. “Though masks are optional for customers and employees in many locations,” MacRumors says, “Apple is still recommending mask usage and providing masks upon request.”
“Today at Apple” Heads Back to Apple
Image via Apple
Perhaps a stronger indication that Apple thinks the country’s turned a COVID corner - the company is once again hosting “Today at Apple” sessions at Apple Stores in the U.S. In a press release on Thursday, the Cupertino-company said:
Beginning [Monday] March 7, Apple Store locations around the country will resume in-person Today at Apple sessions for the first time since the start of the pandemic…
Quoted on the comeback was Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior VP of Retail + People. She’s said to have said:
We can’t wait to welcome more of our communities back to our stores to experience Today at Apple, led by our incredible Apple Creatives… We’ve missed experiencing this connection in our stores, and we’re so happy that Today at Apple is back in person.
Monday’s sessions kick off an in-store celebration of Women’s History Month. The session featured in the press release invites music fans and creators to remix the Lady Gaga track “Free Woman” with Live Loops, Remix FX, and other tools featured in GarageBand.
Twitter Reopening Offices on 15 March
Another tech titan is opening its offices to employees, though it’s not forcing them through the doors. Engadget says, “Twitter will resume business travel and open up its offices all around the world on March 15th…” Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal made that announcement Thursday on Facebook.
I’m kidding. He did, of course, do that in a Tweet.
Twitter offices in New York and San Francisco have been open since last fall, according to the report. While more will open week after next, most workers don’t have to return to them if they don’t want to do so. According to Engadget:
…unlike many companies who are returning to in-person operations, Twitter is not requiring employees to come back. Early into the pandemic, Twitter granted employees the option of working from home indefinitely.
Meanwhile, in Cupertino…
Twitter’s reopening its doors. Google’s reopening its doors (in a less optional way). And Apple folks are still left wondering. “At the current time,” says MacRumors:
…Apple has not yet informed corporate employees of when they might be required to return to the office, but with mask mandates dropping and Google bringing workers back in April, we could hear an update from Apple in the near future.
