Amazon, Tesla Order Mask Mandates For Workers Due To Covid Delta Variant

Amazon and Tesla are two of America's iconic new economy companies. 

That they are mandating mask wearing inside distribution centers and factories suggests that leading businesses recognize the threat the Covid Delta variant poses to the economic recovery and are taking steps to limit the impact of rising infections among the unvaccinated. This is especially true of Tesla given CEO Elon Musk's initial dismissal of the Covid threat. JL 

Ian Campbell and Kim Lyons report in The Verge:

Amazon is once again requiring warehouse worker to wear masks to work in response to the spread of the more contagious COVID-19 delta variant. All Tesla workers at the company’s battery factory in Reno, Nevada will be required to wear masks indoors. The plant already required workers unvaccinated against COVID-19 to wear masks indoors, but the new rule includes vaccinated workers as well. At the beginning of the pandemic last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk pushed back against COVID restrictions

Amazon informed US warehouse employees on Friday that it is once again requiring them to wear masks to work in response to the spread of the more contagious COVID-19 delta variant (via CNBC and Bloomberg). The company says it offers access to vaccines to over half a million of its employees, but it will require employees to mask up, regardless of their vaccination status.

Amazon confirmed the mask mandate in an email statement to The Verge:

In response to the concerning spread of new COVID-19 variants in the U.S. and guidance from public health authorities and our own medical experts, we are requiring face coverings indoors regardless of vaccination status. We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to follow local government guidance and work closely with leading medical healthcare professionals, gathering their advice and recommendations as we go forward to ensure our buildings are optimized for the safety of our teams.

Non-warehouse employees currently don’t have to deal with Amazon’s policy change. The company recently adjusted its return-to-office plans on August 5th, pushing back its return date to January 2022. Like other companies, Amazon had previously considered implementing a hybrid work schedule, with plans to bring office workers back to offices for at least part of the week starting on September 7th.

Taking the extra precautions for warehouse employees seems like the right idea if it plans to continue having staff work in person. Amazon reported in October 2020 that 19,816 workers of its 1,372,000 frontline employees across Whole Foods and Amazon had COVID-19 “or where presumed positive” from March 1st to September 19th, 2020.

All Tesla workers at the company’s battery factory in Reno, Nevada will be required to wear masks indoors beginning Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The plant already required workers unvaccinated against COVID-19 to wear masks indoors, but the new rule includes vaccinated workers as well.

According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, Nevada has seen more than 26,000 new COVID infections in the past month, and 298 deaths. The center estimates that nearly 47 percent of the state’s population has been vaccinated.

At the begning of thein pandemic last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk pushed back against COVID restrictions, including stay-at-home orders in Alameda County, California, where its Fremont plant is located. While the company eventually agreed to temporarily shut down operations at the Fremont facility in March 2020, Musk announced in May 2020 that he was reopening the plant in defiance of local shelter-in-place orders, going so far as to sue the county and threatening to move Tesla operations out of California. In November, Musk tweeted that he likely had a “moderate case of covid.”

On August 3rd of this year, California updated its mask rules, requiring everyone 2 years of age and older to wear masks in indoor public settings, regardless of vaccination status.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak revived that state’s mask mandate late last month, just ahead of new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People in Nevada must wear face masks indoors in public in counties that have “substantial or high transmission,” which included Clark, where Las Vegas is located, and Washoe, where Reno is.