Apple closes all New York stores to browsing as Omicron cases surge

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business

Apple has closed all of its New York store locations to browsing because of a surge in Covid-19 cases. The roughly one dozen locations in the city will be limited to picking up online orders and walk-in services such as Genius Bar support.

“We regularly monitor conditions and we will adjust both our health measures and store services to support the wellbeing of customers and employees,” the company said in a statement.

Two weeks ago, Apple once again began requiring anyone inside its US retail stores to wear a mask as concerns mount over rising Covid-19 cases and the spread of the Omicron variant. Apple also temporarily closed stores in Florida, Maryland and Canada because of the virus.

New York is in the midst of a major Covid-19 outbreak, forcing its transportation system to announce Monday that there will be fewer trains running this week. The MTA said it lacks enough staff members to keep service operating at full capacity.

The state of New York broke a single-day record for new Covid-19 cases on Christmas Eve, hitting 49,708, according to the Governor’s office. The number of new Covid-19 cases in New York City skyrocketed more than 600% in the past two weeks to 17,334 Monday. But Mayor Bill de Blasio said he believed the positive case number “is going to peak really soon.”

— CNN’s Kate Trafecante contributed to this report.

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