Apple temporarily closed all of its stores across California and Tennessee as cases and deaths continue to surge and intensive care units run out of space.
“We’re temporarily closing soon, but are currently open for pickup of existing online orders, previously scheduled in-store Genius Support appointments and previously reserved one-on-one shopping sessions,” Apple’s website says for all 53 of its California stores.
On Monday, California’s seven-day rolling positivity average was 11.3%, well above the World Health Organization’s recommended benchmark for easing lockdown restrictions of 5%, according to the state’s coronavirus dashboard.
Only three of California’s 58 counties fall below the “widespread” county risk level — the highest risk level in California’s system. The 55 counties within the widespread risk level contain more than 40 million Californians. The state’s hospital ICU capacity is currently at 2.1%.
The decision to close all of its stores in California comes just days after Apple closed stores in the Los Angeles area, according to Bloomberg. The company made the decision after officials in Southern California reported they ran out of ICU beds.
Tennessee, home to four Apple stores, reported nearly three times as many cases of COVID-19 on Sunday as it did during its worst day in the summer, when the coronavirus pandemic spiked across the Sunbelt. Tennessee’s seven-day rolling positivity average stands at 19.7%.
Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said on Sunday that residents need to take decisive action against large holiday gatherings in order to prevent the state’s hospitals from running out of room for patients.
“We want to preserve access to hospital resources,” Piercey said. “If we have another surge over Christmas, it will break our hospitals. Don’t gather with those outside of your households. We have to change our behavior over the next several weeks.”
“Due to current COVID-19 conditions in some of the communities we serve, we are temporarily closing stores in these areas,” an Apple spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “We take this step with an abundance of caution as we closely monitor the situation, and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as soon as possible.
Apple also said that it has also closed its stores in Mexico and Brazil.
Earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom broke the state’s coronavirus response into five regions, according to ABC 7, and he issued an order that stay-at-home restrictions would be triggered if a region’s ICU capacity falls below 15%. Four out of five regions are now enforcing stay-at-home orders.
California is the worst-hit state in the United States, with 1.8 million confirmed COVID-19 cases. Across the country, more than 17.8 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 as experts brace for holiday travel-exacerbated surges through the winter.
