Walmart Drops Mask Mandate For 1.6M Employees

Walmart said in a memo today it will no longer require fully vaccinated U.S. employees to wear masks at work. However, those who wish to wear a mask while working are permitted to do so.

Driving the news: New COVID cases are plunging and the U.S. appears to be on its way out of this wave of the pandemic after less than two months, Axios' reported. And NIAID director Anthony Fauci this week said the country is headed out of the "full-blown pandemic phase of COVID-19."

Details: “Effective immediately, fully vaccinated associates will not be required to wear masks while working in any Walmart or Sam’s Club facility, unless required by a state or local mandate or ordinance," according to the memo.

The rule change impacts more than 1.6 million employees who work at Walmart or Sam's Club facilities and offices across the country.
The company noted it would still observe state and local ordinances, and that employees working in its pharmacies and health clinics will still be required to mask up.
Walmart defined fully vaccinated as receiving the full two-dose regimen of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

State of play: Walmart said daily health screenings will not be required of its employees as of Feb. 28, except for those in California, New York and Virginia.

A policy that provided paid leave policy for COVID-19 related absences will end on March 31.

By the numbers: There are more than 4,700 Walmart and 600 Sam's Club retail stores in the U.S.

In other words Walmart needs more workers to stock the ever growing extra multiple cases of Pearl Milling Pancake Syrup that isn’t selling in the Frozen Department aisles, the sporting good aisles, and hard ware aisles and any where else they can put the damn stuff that isn’t selling. Maybe they can put the stuff in the clearance isle next.

“…employees working in its pharmacies and health clinics will still be required to mask up.”

Uh, WHY? I know they’ll say that it’s because they might come into contact with people who are more susceptible to having problems if they get the virus, but A) masks don’t work, B), those people are infinitely more likely to encounter the virus in the broad array of interactions that didn’t involve the pharmacist, and C) MASKS DON’T WORK!

”Walmart defined fully vaccinated as receiving the full two-dose regimen of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.”

So only those who have had a “vaccine” that was designed for a virus that no longer exists (Alpha variant), and which does absolutely nothing against the current and likely final version (Omicron variant) get to remove the masks? I guess this is a positive step, but the mess that they’re leaving in place is absurd and based upon delusion.

Wonderful news! I hope supermarkets (Publix, are you listening?) will do it too.

A political writer had a good phrase about service employees having to wear masks (such as the workers at Obama’s shindigs, etc.) while employers and others (such as Obama) did not: he said that these policies had created a”masked servant class.” Obviously, that’s fine with our lords and masters, and they’d be perfectly happy if this remained in force forever.

That way the underlings can’t talk to them, they don’t have to see those ugly plebeian faces, and the underlings even find it difficult to communicate among themselves undetected by their lords and masters.

I hate to break it to Walmart management but someone has to do it.

Walmart employees in most of the country have largely ditched their masks completely for some time. I suppose in some of the draconian states employees have remained coerced into the masking though. Big box store employees in large measure had to have been really ticked off at enduring the coercion while their customers at large ignored the mandate stuff.

Aside from Wally, there are still private sector employers, from small to large, muzzling their employees in NYS.

BTW, I love the bit about Wally still muzzling employees in healthcare settings.

Using muzzles that aren’t authorized for use in healthcare settings, no doubt.

Someone ought to get in Wally’s grill about that.

Two words for employees: Class action suit.

Wally doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

I think that these companies are finally waking up and listening to their own lawyers about their potential liabilities. Why? Well, the vaccine producers were given sweetheart immunity deals by government, but that does not reduce the potential liability for a private employer who is no longer protected by a legal government mandate (re: USSC’s decision).

I think their lawyers are telling them that there’s likely no defense for an employment mandate that effects a 24/7/365 solution effect on an employee for an on-job solution that just covers their work presences. In other words, an employee who suffers serious medical effects going after the company in a civil damages lawsuit. It only takes one judgment for the full-blown cascade of lawsuits to start. Hungry lawyers are probably licking their chops at this.

Note to muzzled customers getting anything from muzzled Wally employees at the pharmacy/clinic:

Ask the employees if they’re wearing muzzles that come in boxes that have the words NOT FOR USE IN HEALTHCARE SETTINGS printed on them.

Betcha...

That’s possible. But with lawyers, juries and some of the stuff coming out, government could only be reasonably effective at stopping it IF they could keep the lawsuits from being filed at all, and that would seem difficult because that really doesn’t fall into their realm of control (i.e., from a civil suit perspective.)

Deep State won’t care about the process.

Likely enjoys watching parties guaranteed to lose spinning legal wheels costing them big bucks.

Deep State cares about the result.

And since Deep State now controls SCOTUS, legal problems solved.

Unless we restore our republic.

Them too, but they don’t have as much constant contact with Karen’s and Chad’s judging their every move.

My employer has a mask order in the buildings. I haven’t been to our manufacturing plant in a while, but in distribution it’s pretty much ignored.

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