Apple is going to loosen its face mask requirements in Apple Stores as part of its COVID-19 policies in the United States, Apple Insider reported. The mask requirement will be dropped on June 15, 2021.
This decision goes along with Apple’s previous decisions regarding COVID-19. In December of 2020, Apple closed all 53 of its locations in California. In May of 2020, it started gradually reopening stores in South Carolina, Alabama, and Alaska. Later, it began reopening stores with COVID-19 safety measures. In June of 2020, Apple closed 11 stores in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Arizona, out of an abundance of caution. The decisions made by Apple on when to close or reopen a store depended upon the number of COVID-19 cases in a particular state.
According to Apple Insider, Apple will make a change that will go into affect on June 15, 2021, in which it could relax its mask policy to allow some customers to be able to enter an Apple Store without wearing a face mask. That information comes from Bloomberg, who spoke with “people with knowledge of the matter, who declined to be identified discussing policy changes that haven’t been announced.”
It appears that the removal of the mask requirement is intended for customers. Apple store employees will still have to wear masks.
Of course, it’s hard to be certain about exactly what will happen on June 15, 2021. While it is entirely possible that Bloomberg really did get some inside information about Apple’s upcoming face mask rules – it is possible that things may change. After all, Apple has a history of checking the number of COVID cases in a location and using that to determine whether or not to close or reopen a store.