Amidst the latest COVID-19 surge, Apple has reduced operations in all of its New York City Apple Store retail locations and has begun limiting services to customers.
Following Christmas, the locations remain open for online order pickup, but retail operations other than that have been curbed for the time being. It’s also been learned that the in-store repair benches remain open, until the backlog is cleared. Repairs dropped off at those locations can still be picked up.
It’s presently unclear as to what Apple’s criteria for reopening the locations are, and earlier closures have relied on negative employee tests to re-open.
Apple has said for the last 18 months that it will continue to evaluate the status of the pandemic as it decides on a location-by-location basis on which locations to close. For instance, the Fair Oaks Apple Store in Fairfax, Virginia is closed, but as of Monday, the Tyson’s Corner location just miles away remains open.
Per Apple:
“We regularly monitor conditions and we will adjust our health measures to support the well-being of customers and employees. We remain committed to a comprehensive approach for our teams that combines regular testing with daily health checks, employee and customer masking, deep cleaning and paid sick leave.”
On December 14, Apple reinstated its policy requiring all customers to wear masks while visiting an Apple Store. Additionally, Apple said it would also be limiting occupancy at “several” of its retail locations, with the list of limits and closures growing to over 30 on Monday.
Apple is currently shuttering its individual retail locations on a case-by-case basis.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider, @markgurman, and @theterminal