Tim Cook confirms employee return to Apple Park pushed to at least October

Apple employees won't be required to return to offices until at least October, says CEO Tim Cook.

The delta variant of COVID-19 has created a new wave of cases across the United States, so companies like Apple have pushed plans for a return to work back to October. The plan initially had employees returning in September, but health threats from the pandemic bring everything into question.

Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke with CNBC about the change in plans. A short excerpt from the call was shared via Twitter.

.@tim_cook spoke w/ me yesterday about this same issue at @Apple:

"our main focus right now is on when to come back we pushed it from early September to at least October we are monitoring things daily to really conclude whether that is the right answer or not" https://t.co/zhBqwocynm
— Josh Lipton (@CNBCJosh) July 28, 2021

Apple has shown a strong desire to bring its workforce back to its offices as soon as is reasonable. Pushback from employees working from home have done little to change this stance.

Apple prides itself with its top-notch work environments, multimillion-dollar facilities like Apple Park, and its ability to create new technologies when in-person. The work from home change was made out of necessity for the pandemic, but Apple wants to get things back to the status quo.

14 Comments

Appleish 713 comments · 8 Years

About 3 years ago

On a conference call about a month ago, a medical specialist I highly respect said that within a few weeks, mask mandates would come back due to the Delta Variant. He nailed it. He also said that there would be a 50/50 chance there would be widespread lockdowns starting in October. Let's hope it's the right 50.

DAalseth 3030 comments · 6 Years

Appleish said:

On a conference call about a month ago, a medical specialist I highly respect said that within a few weeks, mask mandates would come back due to the Delta Variant. He nailed it. He also said that there would be a 50/50 chance there would be widespread lockdowns starting in October. Let's hope it's the right 50.

Yeah Delta has really upset everyone’s plans. Fortunately the shots are effective against it, though not quite as much as the earlier ones. Where I live they’re dropping mask requirements and other rules, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of them come back on. Fortunately here we have 80+% with one shot and 50+% with two and the count is going up fast. That’ll make all the difference.

DAalseth said:

Appleish said:

On a conference call about a month ago, a medical specialist I highly respect said that within a few weeks, mask mandates would come back due to the Delta Variant. He nailed it. He also said that there would be a 50/50 chance there would be widespread lockdowns starting in October. Let's hope it's the right 50.

Yeah Delta has really upset everyone’s plans. Fortunately the shots are effective against it, though not quite as much as the earlier ones. Where I live they’re dropping mask requirements and other rules, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of them come back on. Fortunately here we have 80+% with one shot and 50+% with two and the count is going up fast. That’ll make all the difference.

75% with one, and 63% with two here. Pfizer is saying a third dose 'strongly boosts protection against Delta Variant.' My family and I will be first in line.

mpantone 2243 comments · 18 Years

Appleish said:

DAalseth said:

Appleish said:

On a conference call about a month ago, a medical specialist I highly respect said that within a few weeks, mask mandates would come back due to the Delta Variant. He nailed it. He also said that there would be a 50/50 chance there would be widespread lockdowns starting in October. Let's hope it's the right 50.

Yeah Delta has really upset everyone’s plans. Fortunately the shots are effective against it, though not quite as much as the earlier ones. Where I live they’re dropping mask requirements and other rules, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of them come back on. Fortunately here we have 80+% with one shot and 50+% with two and the count is going up fast. That’ll make all the difference.

75% with one, and 63% with two here. Pfizer is saying a third dose 'strongly boosts protection against Delta Variant.' My family and I will be first in line.

Your attitude is excellent however it's not the people who have had two Pfizer (or Moderna) shots who are the problem.

Over 99% of all current COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths are with people who aren't vaccinated. US Surgeon General Murthy mentioned this in PBS interview a couple of weeks ago. Nothing new. While the various vaccines don't fully prevent infection, they are HIGHLY effective in reducing the severity of symptoms, hospitalization and excess mortality.

The USA is staring at another grim winter season. The more-contagious delta variant will run rampant through the unvaccinated population. In other nations with even greater vaccine hesitancy, they will be even more screwed.

Apple Corporate (Apple Park, Infinite Loop, various other campuses in Cupertino) itself isn't a high risk. Most of Santa Clara County's vulnerable population is in the poorer neighborhoods like East San Jose or the rural communities (San Martin, Gilroy, etc.). The big problem is that Apple's corporate campuses (like those of other Silicon Valley companies) have support and maintenance staff from low-income populations -- F&B, maintenance, janitorial, landscaping, security, etc. -- many of whom live in communities with lower vaccination rates.

Genetic mutations amongst virus strains is well known. That's why there's a new flu vaccine every year.

JWSC 1203 comments · 7 Years

mpantone said:

Appleish said:

DAalseth said:

Appleish said:

On a conference call about a month ago, a medical specialist I highly respect said that within a few weeks, mask mandates would come back due to the Delta Variant. He nailed it. He also said that there would be a 50/50 chance there would be widespread lockdowns starting in October. Let's hope it's the right 50.

Yeah Delta has really upset everyone’s plans. Fortunately the shots are effective against it, though not quite as much as the earlier ones. Where I live they’re dropping mask requirements and other rules, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of them come back on. Fortunately here we have 80+% with one shot and 50+% with two and the count is going up fast. That’ll make all the difference.

75% with one, and 63% with two here. Pfizer is saying a third dose 'strongly boosts protection against Delta Variant.' My family and I will be first in line.

Your attitude is excellent however it's not the people who have had two Pfizer (or Moderna) shots who are the problem.

Over 99% of all current COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths are with people who aren't vaccinated. US Surgeon General Murthy mentioned this in PBS interview a couple of weeks ago. Nothing new. While the various vaccines don't fully prevent infection, they are HIGHLY effective in reducing the severity of symptoms, hospitalization and excess mortality.

The USA is staring at another grim winter season. The more-contagious delta variant will run rampant through the unvaccinated population. In other nations with even greater vaccine hesitancy, they will be even more screwed.

Apple Corporate (Apple Park, Infinite Loop, various other campuses in Cupertino) itself isn't a high risk. Most of Santa Clara County's vulnerable population is in the poorer neighborhoods like East San Jose or the rural communities (San Martin, Gilroy, etc.). The big problem is that Apple's corporate campuses (like those of other Silicon Valley companies) have support and maintenance staff from low-income populations -- F&B, maintenance, janitorial, landscaping, security, etc. -- many of whom live in communities with lower vaccination rates.

Genetic mutations amongst virus strains is well known. That's why there's a new flu vaccine every year.

“Over 99% of all current COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths are with people who aren't vaccinated.”

Absolutely false! The UK chief science advisor publicly stated a few days ago that 40% of cases were from those who had already received two shots. Having the shots may reduce the severity of symptoms but not eliminate them.