Apple pushing back employees’ return to office as COVID-19 cases spike: report

Apple is pushing back its return to office date for employees as coronavirus cases go up in the U.S. due to the delta variant. 

People familiar with the issue told Bloomberg that Apple is now planning to mandate employees come back to the office at least part-time by October when the original deadline was September. 

The company will let employees know a month in advance when a final decision is made on when the offices will reopen, the sources told Bloomberg.

The move comes after there was some criticism of Apple’s announced September deadline with employees saying it was too soon to return amid the pandemic.

CEO Tim Cook said at the time the availability of vaccines and declining coronavirus cases was a signal to get people back to the office, but the delta variant has recently caused a surge of cases among unvaccinated individuals.

Many companies are slowly going back to the office as cases among vaccinated individuals are not even close to the rates seen by the unvaccinated.

Health officials are working to reach those who might be hesitant about the vaccine as the White House blames misinformation on social media for the declining vaccination numbers. 

A number of companies, including Apple, are looking at continuing remote work in some capacity as many seemed to enjoy conducting business from their households, according to Bloomberg.

The Hill has reached out to Apple for comment.