They should have disposable masks available for you to use. Ask your manager or SSV.

I haven’t seen anything official from Starbucks (but I’ve been off a few days) but the CDC came out and said cloth masks aren’t doing much to stop the spread of the new variants but surgical masks will- N95 masks being the best. It’s unfortunate, but I’m expecting a change based on that.

Omicron is so transmissible that fabric masks really don’t cut it anymore. They’re not standardized or testable in any way, so you really don’t know how many particles they block.

Medical-grade surgical masks block 80+% of particles. N95s and KN95s block 95%; KF94s block 94%. A medical-grade surgical mask really is the bare minimum to keep yourself and people you come into contact with safe against Omicron.

It’s really disappointing. Fabric masks are easier, cuter, cheaper, and they create less waste. But it’s a public health reality.

Your store really should be providing these masks for you. They’re so hard to come by and so expensive that the burden shouldn’t be on the workers.

It’s likely due to the new variant only reliably being curtailed by n95 specifically

Northern CA here, the store manager told us today that it was going to be a phased change and the only was we can wear our fabric ones if if we double layer them with the disposable ones.

We don’t have this policy but your store should be able to provide those masks for you. I order them weekly for my store.

I’ve been wearing the disposable masks and a cloth mask on top so that its still cute but a little safer since everyone at my store is getting sick

my manager told me that starbucks is posting an updated mask mandate on the Hub tomorrow about the new rule because of how easily the new Omnicron variant is spreading. You can always just double mask and just wear your the dye mask over the medical one! I just know that if you choose not to wear the medical one at all your shift or manager has to send you home :/

I find the cloth masks way more comfortable…the medical masks irritate my face so much. Customers should be required to wear them too if we have to.

This is policy everywhere as far as I can tell. Those cloth masks hardly do anything. Besides I don’t know how you guys comfortably breathe in those things. I’ve worn a n95 mask since I started and I’m the only person at my store who hasn’t gotten covid from the other partners.

Yeah we just got this new policy today in Oregon (US.) A bit frustrated that they won’t supply the masks for us

You can still use your cloth mask! You just need to be wearing the surgical mask underneath. I've been doing it for a few weeks now and I really recommend it!

You can ask if you can wear the cloth mask on top of the surgical mask. The cloth masks are not able to be woven tightly enough to be able to contain the new omicron variant. Surgical masks can, and they can be sanatized in a paper bag for like 2 weeks if you wanna reuse them

ours changed today to you have to wear the blue disposable and u can wear a fabric one over it or you have to just wear that

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