Apple closes all retail stores outside of China until March 27

Apple CEO Tim Cook in a letter published late Friday detailed the company's response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, saying it will close all retail outlets outside of Greater China until March 27.

Cook in the letter acknowledged the severity of COVID-19, noting Apple "wants to continue to play a role in helping individuals and communities emerge stronger" from the crisis.

The executive said Apple learned a great deal from combating the virus in China, where the company on Friday reopened its chain of 42 stores, and came away with a set of best practices that will assist it and others in formulating a global response.

"One of those lessons is that the most effective way to minimize risk of the virus's transmission is to reduce density and maximize social distance," Cook writes. "As rates of new infections continue to grow in other places, we're taking additional steps to protect our team members and customers."

While China's stores remain open, albeit with reduced operating hours, Apple will close all other outlets around the world to mitigate transmission and spread of the virus. Prior to Cook's letter, the company on Friday announced store closures across Spain and one U.S. location in Pennsylvania.

Apple's online storefront, accessible via the web or the official Apple Store app, will be open during the two-week hiatus for brick-and-mortar stores. Customers looking for technical support and repairs are urged to visit support.apple.com, where they can be connected with local Authorized Service Providers or request a product to be mailed in for service.

During the temporary shutdown, all hourly workers are set to receive full pay, Cook said. Further, Apple has updated work policies to accommodate personal or family health circumstances resulting from COVID-19, including recovering from an illness, caring for sick family members, mandatory quarantining, or childcare challenges due to school closures.

As with past global emergencies, Apple is donating funds to the global COVID-19 response. According to Cook, the company's commitments reached $15 million worldwide, with funds going toward treatment and to "help lessen the economic and community impacts" of the virus. Apple is also matching employee donations on a two-to-one basis to support local, national and international COVID-19 response efforts.

Cook closed the letter by thanking those fighting on the front line, specifically first responders, doctors, nurses, researchers, public health experts and public servants.

"We do not yet know with certainty when the greatest risk will be behind us," Cook writes. "And yet I have been inspired by the humanity and determination I have seen from all corners of our global community. As President Lincoln said in a time of great adversity: 'The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.' That's always how Apple has chosen to meet big challenges. And it's how we'll rise to meet this one, too."

Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's SVP of Retail and People, issued a short statement on Instagram to announce the coming store closures and thank retail employees.

"I am profoundly grateful to our exceptional team members all around the world who have shown such deep care for our customers and each other during this difficult time," O'Brien said.

Today's announcement should come as no surprise, as Apple's response to the coronavirus pandemic has been swift and wide-reaching. Apple Stores in China were initially closed in late January, followed by a complete retail and corporate shutdown in early February. The company this week shuttered all outlets in Italy on the back of a national quarantine, suspended all Today at Apple sessions in the U.S. and instituted strict global policies with hopes of minimizing the spread of the virus.

Most recently, Apple on Friday announced this year's Worldwide Developers Conference will be held completely online due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns.

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63 Comments

balu 13 comments · 12 Years

About 4 years ago

Good move. Now how do I get my SE2? 😬

Dougie.S 44 comments · 8 Years

I can see why they’ve done this but my MacBook Pro is in for repair at one of their stores! Repair was completed Thursday but they damaged my logic board so had to replace that, now that means it is just going to be sitting there for 2 weeks?!
Wonder what the plan is for repairs in progress?

echosonic 462 comments · 17 Years

This is the most overblown BS I have seen in my lifetime. Pure hype. The entirety of the American media should be dissolved for creating this panic.

Corona killed what, less than 100 Americans? Swine Flu killed 23,000 Americans, nothing. Measles? Nothing. H1N1? Nothing. EBOLA? Not a damned thing.

One basketball player gets a cold and the whole country loses its f#$(%(& mind.

Glad I have cash on hand because the market is having the sale of the century, and all its going to cost is the economy, and thousands of jobs.

Shame on all of you lemmings who are playing along.

tmay 6455 comments · 11 Years

echosonic said:

This is the most overblown BS I have seen in my lifetime. Pure hype. The entirety of the American media should be dissolved for creating this panic.

Corona killed what, less than 100 Americans? Swine Flu killed 23,000 Americans, nothing. Measles? Nothing. H1N1? Nothing. EBOLA? Not a damned thing.

One basketball player gets a cold and the whole country loses its f#$(%(& mind.

Glad I have cash on hand because the market is having the sale of the century, and all its going to cost is the economy, and thousands of jobs.

Shame on all of you lemmings who are playing along.

Thank you for being today's contrarian dipshit.

Please enjoy spending your excessive free time in bars, and concerts with the rest of the doubting dipshits.

Don't forget all of that demand destruction that is going on when you make your investments.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zx3WVpp8y-SMLrxg3tckbF5PmcV0FCtuyWuUiFVYiUo/edit

This above a twitter thread from a doctor in an ICU in Washington state, translated for the public by a medical student.

Here is a portion;

"
● Since 2/28, they’ve seen 21 patients and 11 deaths.
Although disease is expected to be worse in patients who are older with comorbidities, they have also seen young healthy patients critically ill.
● They estimate COVID-19 has been spreading in the United States since January, thus making it challenging to contain now because so many people are infected with either mild/no symptoms.
● In their hospital, the entire intensive care unit (ICU) is being used for patients that are critically ill with COVID-19. Another floor is dedicated to patients with COVID-19 that are stable (their clinical course is not expected to change rapidly so they do not need as high a staff:patient ratio) and end of life care. Half of the progressive care unit (PCU) and emergency room (ER) are also being used for patients that are stable.
● Patients with new respiratory symptoms are being held in the pulmonary clinic as overflow.
● Because COVID-19 is thought to be spread through aerosols, there is higher risk to healthcare providers in procedures that generate aerosols such as intubation (placing a breathing tube), suctioning the airway, or performing a bronchoscopy (looking into the lungs with a camera). For aerosol-generating procedures, it was previously recommended that providers wear a N95 mask (which protects against viruses or bacteria spread through the air) as opposed to a normal surgical mask, which protects against droplets. The CDC is no longer asking providers who were wearing a surgical mask (droplet protection) during aerosol-generating procedures to stay home.
There is much more, but the bottom line is that the medical system is already stretched past the limit.

and,

https://twitter.com/vivek_murthy/status/1238500475068125192

(the 19th Surgeon General of the United States)"THREAD: Yesterday, I spoke with doctors from one of the nation’s leading academic hospitals located in a state where #COVID19 cases are increasing quickly. This is what they told me: They've been seeing *many* patients with symptoms concerning for COVID19 who need testing (1/x)"

"But they are unable to get the *vast majority* of them COVID19 testing. Their only resource for testing is the state lab. But the state lab is severely limited in capacity and it will take another few weeks for the hospital lab to implement its own test. (2/x)"

"So the hospital is saving their test requests for only those who are severely ill - such as those with ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) who have tested negative for other conditions (like influenza). In other words, they are having to ration tests. (3/x)"

crowley 10431 comments · 15 Years

echosonic said:

This is the most overblown BS I have seen in my lifetime. Pure hype. The entirety of the American media should be dissolved for creating this panic.

Corona killed what, less than 100 Americans? Swine Flu killed 23,000 Americans, nothing. Measles? Nothing. H1N1? Nothing. EBOLA? Not a damned thing.

One basketball player gets a cold and the whole country loses its f#$(%(& mind.

Glad I have cash on hand because the market is having the sale of the century, and all its going to cost is the economy, and thousands of jobs.

Shame on all of you lemmings who are playing along.

H1N1 and swine flu are the same thing, and killed about 11,000 americans in the recent pandemic, with a fatality rate about 1/10 less than the current estimation for COVID-19, while being similarly contagious. That was declared a national emergency too, so not sure what you mean by "nothing". The response to COVID-19 has been informed by the experience of other recent pandemics, many of which could have been contained much better.