Apple announces that its retail stores are closing until March 27 due to COVID-19

Due to COVID-19, Apple is closing all its retail stores “outside of Greater China,” until March 27th. The company’s CEO Tim Cook announced the details in a letter posted on Apple’s website.

“The most effective way to minimize risk of the virus’s transmission is to reduce density and maximize social distance,” Cook wrote in the letter. “We are committed to providing exceptional service to our customers.”

This is a global closure with every store shutting down immediately except for those in China. Stores in China reopened as of March 13th.

Apple will keep its online store, and the Apple Store app opened, and customers that need support can visit ‘support.apple.com,’ which will be able to find customers an authorized repair shop that’s still open or get mail-service.

Apple will continue to do its best to mitigate the effects of the virus and will continue deep cleanings of its sites, and new health screenings and temperature checks will be added to all of its offices.

Hourly workers will continue to receive pay, said the company’s letter.

“All of our hourly workers will continue to receive pay in alignment with business as usual operations,’ Cook’s letter said.

Additionally, for Apple employees that are still working, the company has extended its leave policy to accommodate personal or family health circumstances created by the virus.

“We have expanded our leave policies to accommodate personal or family health circumstances created by COVID-19 — including recovering from an illness, caring for a sick loved one, mandatory quarantining, or childcare challenges due to school closures.”

However, Apple is encouraging all its employees who can work from home to do so.

Apple has donated $15 million to the COVID-19 response and plans to match its donations two-to-one to support the COVID-19 response efforts locally, nationally and internationally.

Earlier this week, Apple announced that WWDC 2020 would be moving to an online-only experience.

You can read Apple’s complete response, here.

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