The largest employer in the nation, Walmart is giving its vaccinated employees a break by dropping mask mandates in states which have relaxed mask mandates. Several states from the east coast to the west coast are in the process of or have already changed mask wearing policies. The recent variant, the omicron has been milder than all other variants and cases of COVID-19 due to this variant are also declining, leading to the policy change.

Walmart has also brought in other changes in policy, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Some of the changes include the slowdown of daily health screenings unless required by states such as New York, California and Virginia.

Walmart is also changing its sick leave policy. Associates had been given extra paid time, beyond sick leave. This policy had been adopted especially for the COVID-19 pandemic. This will be dropped unless it is mandated by the local government.

The mask relaxation policy will only apply to those who have been vaccinated. Unvaccinated employees have to continue to wear masks. Those who work in clinical care settings, including pharmacies will have to continue wearing masks.

Walmart tries it best to balance state policies with employee wellbeing. Last spring, the big box retailer had relaxed its mask policy. However, when COVID-19 cases surged in July due to the delta variant of the coronavirus, the retailer introduced the mask policy, once again.

Now that the omicron variant is found to cause milder infections among those who are vaccinated and the number of cases are also falling across states in the nation though at different levels, Walmart has decided to change its policy on masking. One point to be noted is that although states are relaxing mask mandates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not changed its recommendations on the use of masks, as yet.