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 Store Southlake location.
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.
Read on AppleInsider
The Apple Store Southlake location.
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.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Well, Texans don't seem to think they work anyway...
Death to empiricism and discourse!
Repeat: The vaccine does not prevent the spread of covid. It does lessen symptoms once you get it.
(Yes I am vaccinated).
The chances of spreading the virus and getting sick don't just "lessen", they drop dramatically. If the virus cannot propagate in your body, the less chance there is of you passing it along to someone else before your own immune system can catch and neutralize it. Sure there is a slight chance you could potentially pass it along, but it's rather slim - nothing is 100% effective.
Because Apple has been pushing jabbinations hard, what portion of these employees who tested "positive" had already been "vaccinated"?
The assumption is being made these employees became positive because of contact with people in the store. How do we know this?
What variants did these people test positive for, Covid Classic, Delta, or Omicron, and how do the testing protocols distinguish between the variants?
How was it determined these employees tested positive for CV? What tests were used? What is the accuracy, reliability, and rate of false positives for the test?
How many of the "positive" employees, if any, have symptoms of illness?
It's true that Texas doesn't require masks in public places... but individual business can. And many do. Including all the Apple Stores in the Houston area... they will not let you in the store without a mask.