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Workplace

Mask mandates return to some Facebook and Amazon offices

Facebook said Monday that it will start requiring U.S. office workers to wear masks at work, joining Apple, Lyft and Uber in that policy.

A face mask

Mask mandates are returning.

Photo: Aleksandr Zubkov via Getty Images

Facebook said Monday that it will start requiring U.S. office workers to wear masks at work, joining Apple, Lyft and Uber in that policy. Amazon is also requiring masks at a number of its U.S. offices, according to an employee who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity.

Facebook cited several reasons for its new mask policy, which goes into effect on Tuesday. "Given the rising numbers of COVID cases, the newest data on COVID variants and an increasing number of local requirements, we are reinstating our mask requirements in all of Facebook's U.S. offices, regardless of an employee's vaccination status," company spokesperson Chloe Meyere said in a statement.

A number of Amazon offices in Los Angeles, New York and Las Vegas now require employees to wear masks, according to an Amazon employee. LA County's mask mandate does apply to public, indoor spaces, including offices. San Francisco officials also announced their own mask mandate on Monday, with other Bay Area counties expected to follow.

But the ecommerce giant hasn't imposed a nationwide mask mandate, Seattle-based company spokesperson Angie Schneider said. "I'm on site right now and am not masked," Schneider noted in an email.

Amazon's chief financial officer, Brian Olsavsky, said on Thursday that the company was still planning to return to the office next month and would not require vaccines. Apple, Facebook, Google and Uber have told employees they can work remotely until October, while Lyft has pushed back its full reopening until February.

In addition to these mask requirements, Facebook, Lyft and Uber have recently imposed vaccine mandates. Google is also requiring employees to get vaccinated in order to return to the office, but hasn't publicly announced a mask mandate. The search giant did begin strongly encouraging workers at its Bay Area offices to wear masks in mid-July.

 Allison Levitsky
Allison Levitsky is a reporter at Protocol covering workplace issues in tech. She previously covered big tech companies and the tech workforce for the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Allison grew up in the Bay Area and graduated from UC Berkeley.
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