Tech giant Apple has close one of its Southlake, Texas retail stores Wednesday after many staff members contracted COVID-19, according to NBC News’ Zoe Schiffer.
A manager told employees Wednesday that 22 staffers “have shared that they’re positive for COVID-19,” NBC News reported, and four of the store’s 151 employees reported positive cases right after Black Friday. The store will be closed through Sunday.
NBC News report highlights a few worrying trends about the Southlake location. One employee said they had previously raised concerns about being unable to keep social distancing. He and another employee said the store was packed “shoulder to shoulder” on Black Friday. And a manager at the Southlake store apparently had asked employees to come even if they had called in sick:
NBC spoke with four current and former employees at the Southlake store who said they’ve received calls from their manager encouraging them to come to work, even when they called out sick. In two of these cases, the employee had taken the Covid-19 survey and the results said not to come in. The manager did not respond to requests for comment from NBC.
Apple’s official policy requires retail staffers to wear masks and to take a COVID-19 survey before they go to work.
