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.
Source: Deirdre O'Brien via Instagram
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.
Source: Deirdre O'Brien via Instagram
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.
Comments
Wonder what the plan is for repairs in progress?
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.
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,
(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)"
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-uk-cases-symptoms-death-toll-epidemic-covid-19-a9390241.html
Good luck on that. UK expected to go into mitigation in 10-14 days. The problem is that your medical services will be maxed out much sooner than 10 weeks, then deaths start climbing.
"Everything we do before a pandemic will seem alarmist. Everything we do after a pandemic will seem inadequate."
Michael O. Leavitt, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 2007
Covid-19 has killed less than 100 Americans because it’s still in very early stages in America. A tepid initial response has allowed internal transmission and that marks the true beginning of an outbreak in any country. See South Korea, Iran and especially Italy. There were 11k new cases worldwide today, illustrating this virus’ capacity to spread quite easily. Italy’s death toll stands at 14%. A fast spreading contagion with the potential to kill 14% in a population that skews older (Italy’s median population is 45.1 years; one of the oldest) is nothing to ignore.
China's actions are working because no one is going there. Seems it would take the same for the US to recover. What is the long term solution?
Italy’s death toll has to do with the fact that the peak infection rate exceeded their health care system’s capacity. Many of those who died did so only because of lack of treatment. Michael Shellenberger has some good articles on this.
This panic is overblown and because of the public panic a lot of people are making very poor decisions because they don’t have the mental tools to understand relative risks and probabilities. Much of the media and election year politics is clouding any such discussion. This is a public policy disaster in the making.
Apple and other tech companies are in the best positions to take such measures. We do not need a shiny retail store to be open when infections are spreading. Superstores like Wal-mart and amazon will likely remain manned through the entire process. What can be said about their elderly employees and managers? Just as Apple was prudent in warning on their guidance, they will be seen as prudent in this measure too. More companies will follow suit, to some extent, in the following week.
Which is precisely the problem that locales in the U.S. are currently facing, and that the U.S. will face, if they don't get the Coronavirus contained. Italy didn't get the Coronavirus contained locally, so the whole country is in containment. South Korea is still working frantically to contain the virus, at a huge level of effort, and they seem to be successful.
At some point, herd immunity will happen. Then of course, you can look forward to mutations, same as the seasonal flu.
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-millions-of-britons-will-need-to-contract-covid-19-for-herd-immunity-11956793