Tesla is requiring that all employees at a battery manufacturing plant in Nevada must wear masks while inside, even those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Under the company’s previous policy at the Reno-area plant, only non-vaccinated workers were required to wear masks. The company reportedly told workers that the highly-contagious Delta variant is the reason for the decision. Nevada’s government recently said that it could institute a mask mandate at some point this week in the county were the plan is located if transmission rates continue to rise.
The car maker joins GM and Ford in mandating masks for their employees, even those who have been fully vaccinated.
Tesla did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment. The company’s chief executive, Elon Musk, previously attempted to reopen his U.S. car plant during the height of the pandemic last year, and later that year Musk announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
The state of Louisiana and multiple counties in the San Francisco Bay Area have announced indoor mask mandates that begin this week following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updating its guidelines in response to rising transmission rates.
“It’s important that this mask mandate be for vaccinated as well as unvaccinated individuals because we’re facing a much more aggressive and contagious opponent right now known as the Delta variant,” Dr. Sundari Mase, health officer for California’s Sonoma County, told the Journal.
“This is obviously not something that I wanted to do, but Louisiana is not in the place where we want it to be or where we need it to be,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said at a recent press conference. “Public health and safety compel this action.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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