Yesterday I had a meeting at my work. As many of you may be aware, Japan is planning on [changing the status of COVID-19 to the same level as the seasonal flu](https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/japan-to-downgrade-covid-19-status-to-same-level-as-seasonal-flu-012023). According to some reports this could mean the end of indoor masking in some places (such as shopping centers). Either that or masks could become much less common. It’s hard to know at this point.
However, someone at our meeting asked the manager “Will we need to continue wearing masks after COVID has been downgraded as a regular flu?” and the manager responded with “**Yes, masks are likely a permanent policy for all employees. Clients may not be required to wear them but employees will more than likely be required to wear masks as long as COVID is around**”.
Has anyone else heard anything about this? A few of my coworkers seemed to be really surprised by this. I saw it coming from a mile away (and personally, I don’t mind wearing a mask so much) but I’m wondering if other companies/schools/etc. will stick with this policy.
5 comments
That’s purely a decision for your company. I work in the financial industry in a super traditional Japanese bank and we have already had a no mask policy for half a year, but some of my friends in gaishikei investment banks from US/Europe surprisingly still strictly require masks at all times. It’s a decision for management and HR and the classification downgrade just makes it more likely they will be more lenient on masks but nothing stopping them requiring it forever. Obviously professions like face to face customer service, teaching in small rooms etc are going to be more strict because no matter what the downgrade is ‘my teacher at XYZ gave me covid’ being posted on the internet is not going to be a good look.
Considering that everyone in my city masks even outside despite the government dropping that recommendation months ago, I don’t see people unmasking inside for quite a while.
I can’t see places like schools doing away with masks for staff any time in the next few years.
My supervisor just posted a reminder on slack for us that masks are mandatory (although they stopped being mandatory for our customers months ago)
Not sure if it will change soon/after this status change of covid officially takes effect.. kinda wish it would change. Hard to wear a mask all day at work and do a physical job.
Hilarious though for him to be reminding us of that because that supervisor is one of the only staff members which is constantly wearing his mask on his chin, maybe he thinks that counts as “wearing it”
“As long as Covid is around.” So… forever? Don’t these people realize how ridiculous that is?