Corporate America is unmasking and ordering workers to return to the office as COVID deaths remain high
BY
AMIAH TAYLOR
February 16, 2022 7:21 AM GMT+8
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As the number of COVID cases plunge following their peak in January, several major companies including
Walmart have decided to lift mask requirements for workers while others, such as tech giant
Microsoft, are inviting employees to return to the office.
Which companies are unmasking?
After several states—such as
New York, Delaware, and Nevada—lifted indoor mask mandates over the past seven days (California will do so on Wednesday), corporations are withdrawing mask requirements for workers.
Walmart, the
largest private sector employer, said that fully vaccinated workers are free to go maskless in public spaces while working, unless local or state law mandates otherwise, according to
The Washington Post. Similarly,
Amazon announced last week that it would let fully-vaccinated warehouse employees go maskless, as reported by
The Wall Street Journal. Major banks that are lifting indoor mask mandates for vaccinated workers include
Goldman Sachs and
JPMorgan Chase.
Which companies are returning to the office?
Microsoft,
one of the largest U.S. tech employers, announced a reopening plan in a Feb. 14
blog post that includes ushering vaccinated employees back to the office
by the end of the month. Meanwhile, investment bank
BNY Mellon said earlier this month that its employees would return to the office on March 7, as reported by
The New York Times.
American Express also said that employees would return to the office next month for
hybrid work, as it had announced
in October. Both
BNY Mellon and
American Express mandate that employees returning to the office be fully vaccinated.
Latest on the pandemic
Companies look like they’re in a hurry to return to normal, but the pandemic, which has killed 900,000 as of this month, is far from over. The seven-day U.S. daily average of deaths was 2,400 on Feb. 14, according to
The New York Times.
