RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Apple’s retail stores in the Triangle remain open (but masks and social distancing are required) even as the tech giant closes a growing number of outlets across the country.
A check of the websites for the Apple stores at Crabtree Valley Mall and Streets at Southpoint confirmed early Tuesday the stores remain open with some restrictions in place.
However, as MacRumors reports, Apple has closed several stores in New York City and across the city.
“Not all of the closures are related to the virus, with five stores closed in Washington state following inclement weather,” Joe Rossignol reports.
Here’s the latest list of closures as reported by MacRumors: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/12/27/20-apple-stores-closed-in-us-today/
“Apple did not comment on the closures, but it said many of the stores that are temporarily closed continue to serve customers with orders placed for pickup or same-day delivery,” MacRumors noted. “Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has previously reported that many store closures have been due to rising COVID-19 cases among employees.”
“We regularly monitor conditions and we will adjust both our health measures and store services to support the wellbeing of customers and employees,” the company said in a statement.
Two weeks ago, Apple once again began requiring anyone inside its US retail stores to wear a mask as concerns mount over rising Covid-19 cases and the spread of the Omicron variant.
New York is in the midst of a major Covid-19 outbreak, forcing its transportation system to announce Monday that there will be fewer trains running this week. The MTA said it lacks enough staff members to keep service operating at full capacity.
The state of New York broke a single-day record for new Covid-19 cases on Christmas Eve, hitting 49,708, according to the Governor’s office. The number of new Covid-19 cases in New York City skyrocketed more than 600% in the past two weeks to 17,334 Monday. But Mayor Bill de Blasio said he believed the positive case number “is going to peak really soon.”
(CNN contributed to this report.)