Apple Closes Another 7 US, Canada Stores As COVID-19 Cases Among Employees Rise

Apple Inc AAPL has shuttered another seven retail stores in the United States and Canada due to increasing cases of COVID-19 among employees.

What Happened: The list of temporary closures include locations in Dadeland, Florida; The Gardens Mall in Palm Beach, Florida; Lenox Square in Atlanta, Georgia, Highland Village in Houston, Texas; Summit Mall in Akron, Ohio; Pheasant Lane in Nashua, New Hampshire and Sainte-Catherine in Montreal, Quebec, according to an Apple Insider report.  

The latest string of store closures comes a week after Apple closed three stores in U.S. and Canada earlier due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

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Why It Matters: In the week ending Dec. 18, the Omicron variant of COVID-19 accounted for an estimated 73% of infections in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Apple analyst Mark Gurman said earlier in the month that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 could “limit foot traffic in retail stores.”

It is noteworthy that the latest store closures come amid the crucial holiday period. The Cupertino, California-based tech giant is expected to sell 40 million iPhone units in the period between Black Friday and Christmas, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

The Tim Cook-led company reinstated a mask mandate at all its stores last week, according to a CNBC report.

Apple sent a memo to its staff members informing them that their return to office has been delayed from Feb. 1 to a “date yet to be determined,” as per Bloomberg.

Price Action: On Wednesday, Apple shares closed nearly 1.5% higher at $175.64 in the regular session and rose almost 0.2% in the after-hours trading.

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