Apple has reportedly told its employees that it no longer mandates wearing masks to work. However, it does not stop them from wearing masks if they feel comfortable doing so. It is a choice that the employees are allowed to make as per their comfort level, the local conditions and circumstances, and the requirements of the health authorities in their respective locations.
Apple has reportedly urged employees, at most of its locations, to not discriminate against those wearing or not wearing masks and respect individual choices to mask up or not.
Coincidentally, the BA.5 variant of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly across the US. Over 1.75 lakh cases have already been reported as per media reports.
Los Angeles County in California has officially decided to do away with the mask mandate based on the drop in the number of infections and hospitalisations. The health authorities of the County had earlier planned to make it mandatory for its 10 million population to wear masks indoors.
Meanwhile, in Texas, a court has ruled in favour of the ban on mask mandates in schools imposed by Greg Abbott, Governor, Texas. Abbott’s executive order prohibited all governmental entities, which included schools and educational institutions, from imposing mask mandates.
However, there were many protests against this ban. A group of students even sued Texas State over the ban saying it was in violation of the Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act and the American Rescue Plan Act, and that it put students’ lives at risk. The court, however, ruled that there was no proof that the mask ban put them at risk of contracting COVID-19.
