Apple store temporarily closes after COVID-19 outbreak, report says
Nearly two dozen employees say they've tested positive at a Texas location, according to NBC News.
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A Southlake, Texas, Apple store is temporarily closed following a COVID-19 outbreak among the staff, NBC News reported Thursday.
There were four positive cases reported just after Black Friday , according to an internal email the outlet obtained. Now that number is up to 22, a store manager reportedly told staff during a virtual meeting Wednesday. Those employees will come back to work after isolating for 10 days and being symptom-free for 48 hours, the manager reportedly said.
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The site for Apple's Southlake retail location simply says, "We're temporarily closed," noting the store will open Monday.
All employees at the location, which is just north of Fort Worth, will have to take a rapid antigen test on Sunday before the store's reopening, NBC News says.
Apple was among the first companies to close its stores at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. It later reopened some locations, but then shuttered them again in states, including Texas, following COVID-19 case spikes across the country. Apple reopened all its US stores this March.
Apple retail employees across the US have to take a COVID-19 survey before going into work, which asks if they have any symptoms and if they've been in close contact with anyone who tested positive, NBC notes. Employees at the Southlake store reportedly told NBC News their manager had encouraged them to come into work even after they'd called in sick. That included two cases in which an employee had taken the survey and the results informed them not to come in.
At a corporate level, Apple said in November that it plans to reopen offices in February.