Conflicting Mask Guidelines

Due to the large increase in numbers of COVID infections, Los Angeles County has resumed a mask mandate for indoor interactions. Accordingly, my work sent out an email Saturday reminding all employees that masks are required again starting Sunday. So far so good.

Last night, another email comes out after hours and basically says the county mandate is inconsistent with the science and recommendation of the CDC, so anyone that is vaccinated does not need to wear a mask indoors. Huh? There is no “company policy” exemption in the county’s order. What the heck is going on?

Obviously, the second email came from our CEO. Even though the email came from HR, there is no way some random employee sends out an email that advocates violating a county health order. Our CEO often says controversial things on Twitter, but this is no joke. More people are getting infected again, likely due to the Delta variant. You can’t have people sending mixed messages. Someone in my department just tested positive for COVID last week and they were fully vaccinated. What if that was me? Would I feel anything? Lose my transplanted kidney? Have to go to the ICU? Or even die from a number of complications?

This just means there’s no way I am heading into the office anytime soon.