As of today, all of our stores in Greater China have reopened.
and
We will be closing all of our retail stores outside of Greater China until March 27. We are committed to providing exceptional service to our customers. Our online stores are open at www.apple.com, or you can download the Apple Store app on the App Store. For service and support, customers can visit support.apple.com. I want to thank our extraordinary Retail teams for their dedication to enriching our customers’ lives. We are all so grateful to you.
This makes me glad I stopped by my local store to pick up a set of AirPods Pro on Thursday afternoon. (My college is transitioning to online, so I’m about to be doing a lot more audio and video conferencing than before, and I needed something that works better for that than what I already have.)
More importantly, kudos to Apple — both for taking this step to slow the spread and for continuing to pay their hourly employees.
Right now, I almost all my staff (where possible is on home office). Fun fact: headsets were sold out in retail and we are waiting for some. Interesting: SARS-CoV-2 convinced people to use video conferencing and the “can´t replace actual meetings” argument is gone.
And starting Monday, stores (except food, pharmacies,…) are not allowed to open.
It may never be completely gone for awhile and no business can’t be shut forever. They are probably still doing the extensive cleaning they started because of the virus.
The “we’re closing everything on Monday” might have increased contagion spread in Italy, because everybody on Saturday and Sunday went to the stores to buy in preparation to the quarantine
The one advice I could give is start the self imposed quarantine today, don’t wait
The “everybody went to the stores” phase is already over since idiots (facebook, whatsapp groups) were spreading curfew rumors a week ago. I think everybody already has a stash of noodles and toilet paper for the next years.
A combination of containment and safe practices. In China the number of cases among people arriving in the country outnumbered those by local transmission for the first time.
And Germany, where I believe you are, has banned private or public events of more than 50 people.
France has ordered mandatory shutdown of restaurants, cafes, cinemas and nightclubs as well as non-essential businesses effective now. (France reported a sharp rise in cases today, from 3,661 to 4,499. It recorded 12 more deaths, bringing the toll to 79.)
Israel has done something similar.
Sweden has run out of hospital masks. Some hospitals are using construction masks.
In New Zealand all new arrivals must self-isolate for 14 days.
Colombia closed its border with Venezuela and barred any visitors who’d recently visited Europe or Asia.
Denmark has closed its borders until April 15th.
Italy officially expects cases to plateau at 92,000 next week, with 3,000+ deaths.
