Apple reinstates retail employee mask mandate at about 100 US stores

Apple is reinstating its mask mandate for retail employees at about 100 brick-and-mortar locations throughout the U.S. in response to a national rise in cases.

Although retail staff members at those locations will be required to mask up, customers will not. However, Apple is still recommending customers wear a mask.

News of the employee mask mandate comes after Apple partially postponed a return to office place for its corporate workers. The company on Tuesday told staffers they could work in-office twice a week instead of three.

Apple is also reinstating its mask mandate at about 100 US retail stores today — for employees. https://t.co/2Y3SYHDHfz

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) May 17, 2022

In addition, Apple employees will be required to wear face masks in common areas throughout the company's corporate facilities.

Apple lifted its customer mask mandate across its U.S. stores back in February. In March, it also began lifting its requirements for employees in both retail and corporate settings.

The U.S. is seeing a steady rise in Covid-19 cases, driven by more infectious subvariants of the Omicron variant like BA.2, BA.2.12, and BA.2.12.1. According to the New York Times, the U.S. is seeing 90,423 cases a day, up 60% from two weeks prior.