Employee COVID outbreak forces Apple to close Texas store

An Apple Store in Texas has shut down after 22 employees tested positive for Covid-19 in the wake of the busy Black Friday shopping weekend.

The Apple retail location, located in Southlake, Texas, will be shuttered from Wednesday, Dec. 8 through Sunday, Dec. 12 because of the coronavirus outbreak.

According to NBC News, the store reported four cases immediately after Black Friday. A few weeks later, there are now 22 positive cases among employees at the store. The brick-and-mortar store has 151 total staff members.

Reportedly, the employees who tested positive will return to work after 10 days of isolation and 48 hours of being symptom-free. All employees will need to take a rapid antigen test before the store's planned reopening on Monday, Dec. 13.

The Texas store outbreak suggests a breakdown of Apple's Covid-19 policies between Apple's corporate facilities and its brick-and-mortar retail footprint, NBC News suggests.

Employees at the Southlake store told the outlet that they haven't always been able to operate with the same level of caution that drove Apple to quickly shut down all of its retail operations in 2020.

For example, employees said that they received calls from their manager encouraging them to come to work even if they've called out sick.

Employees who worked on Black Friday describe a store that was packed "shoulder to shoulder" with people. Since Texas isn't mandating facial coverings, customers were not required to wear masks in the store.

Apple currently encourages employees to report their vaccination status. Earlier in 2021, it ramped up its Covid-19 testing among retail employees.

19 Comments

baconstang 1154 comments · 10 Years

About 2 years ago

What? No masks?
Well, Texans don't seem to think they work anyway...

ronn 684 comments · 20 Years

Employees who worked on Black Friday describe a store that was packed "shoulder to shoulder" with people. Since Texas isn't mandating facial coverings, customers were not required to wear masks in the store.
Shocked. That only 22 workers tested positive. Damn shame that Apple didn't use common sense and institute its own COVID protocols to lessen the chance of an outbreak. With the holiday season in full effect, let's hope even more closings aren't necessary.

KTR 280 comments · 4 Years

If people do not follow the rules or implement standards, this virus WILL NEVER go., Oh well. The country will go broke.

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

KTR said:

If people do not follow the rules or implement standards, this virus WILL NEVER go., Oh well. The country will go broke.

A member of the Illinois legislature has introduced a bill that would require non-vaccinated people hospitalized with Covid to pay the costs of their hospitalization out-of-pocket, whether they have insurance or not. Hit someone hard enough in the pocketbook is usually the only way to get their attention. The bill probably won’t get far but I think it’s a great idea to ‘encourage’ vaccinations.

sflocal 6135 comments · 16 Years

This is human stupidity at its finest. The selfish, moronic, conspiracy-loving anti-vaxxers are putting people's live at risk. They are just too stupid and ignorant to accept it. I'm all for personal choice and keeping the government out of my body, but what's it going to take to get these people to understand that COVID is here to stay until they get vaccinated?!

One can only hope that Darwin will take care of things, but even then... that's years down the road.