With the delta variant surging, Atlanta-based Home Depot said Monday it is telling all of its more than 500,000 employees nationwide to wear masks when indoors in company stores, offices and distribution centers.
The mandate goes into effect immediately, regardless of whether the workers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or not. It also covers the company’s vendors and contractors, including when they go inside customer homes and businesses.
And Home Depot said it will again ask customers in its stores to mask up, something it had officially stopped doing in May after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed its guidance on who should wear face coverings. The CDC has again called for people to wear masks indoors in many parts of the nation, regardless of their vaccination status. Home Depot said it will offer masks to customers who don’t have one to wear in its stores.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our number one concern has been for the health and safety of our customers and associates,” the company said in a statement.
The retailer will use signs to convey the mask request to patrons. A spokeswoman said if customers refuse to take the protective step, “it’s simply too dangerous to have our associates forcibly or physically deny entry.”
The moves come as local employers wrestle with whether to beef up protections and delay office reopenings as the pandemic surges yet again amid the highly transmissible delta variant. Last week, the CDC changed its guidance, calling on even vaccinated people to wear masks indoors in parts of the nation with substantial or high transmission rates. That includes nearly every county in Georgia, where the vaccination rate lags that of most states.
Home Depot has yet to bring most of its office employees back to its Atlanta headquarters, but its stores remain active. The retail giant has more than 30,000 staffers in Georgia. The company isn’t requiring workers to get vaccinated, but it is urging them to.
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