An Amazon employee enters a fulfillment center in Kent, Wash., and is handed a mask, from another employee using tongs, before he can begin a shift in the massive package handling warehouse last June. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

A day after pushing back the return to an in-person setting for its office workers to the new year, Amazon has issued new masking guidance for its warehouse workers as concerns about the spread of COVID-19 variants continue to impact workplace decisions.

Amazon told the hundreds of thousands of workers in its fulfillment facilities on Friday that regardless of whether they’ve received a COVID-19 vaccine, they should again wear masks to work.

“In response to the concerning spread of new COVID-19 variants in the U.S. and guidance from public health authorities and our own medical experts, we are requiring face coverings indoors regardless of vaccination status,” said Kelly Nantel, Amazon’s national media relations director, in a statement to GeekWire.

On Thursday, Amazon told its corporate and tech employees that the date for returning to regular work in the office would now be Jan. 3, 2022, four months beyond the previous target of the week of Sept. 7.

The tech giant stopped short of implementing a vaccine mandate for those who do work in the office, as companies including Microsoft, Google, and Facebook have done. Amazon said it requires employees to wear masks in the office, except for those who can verify they’ve been fully vaccinated.

More than a year after Amazon had turned its warehouses into showcases for the COVID safety measures it was implementing, such as on-site testing, temperature checks, signage, endless hand sanitizer, cameras to measure social distancing, cleaning and more, Amazon had begun to relax some of those processes.

Natel said the company will continue to “follow local government guidance and work closely with leading medical healthcare professionals.”

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