Apple's head of retail Deidre O'Brien on Sunday explained the company's plans to restart operations at its retail stores adding that they will only move forward once they are confident of 'safe return'.
"In China, and later around the world, we were one of the first compes to close our stores. In Greater China, we saw the importance of swift action -- and the critical importance of social distance -- to slow the virus' spread. And, as time has gone on, we've continued to refine and expand our in-store health and safety measures, which have proven so effective in places like Greater China, where our stores have been safely open for months," the company's official website quoted O'Brien as saying.
O'Brien further stated that the company will reopen only when they are confident that they can safely return to serving customers from their stores.
"Our commitment is to only move forward with a reopening once we're confident we can safely return to serving customers from our stores. We look at every available piece of data -- including local cases, near and long-term trends, and guidance from national and local health officials. These are not decisions we rush into -- and a store opening in no way means that we won't take the preventative step of closing it again should local conditions warrant," he said.
O'Brien said that in every store, they are focused on limiting occupancy and giving everybody lots of room, and renewing their focus on one-on-one, personalized service at the Genius Bar and throughout the store.
Face covering be required and temperature check will be conducted at the door, he said.
"We're also taking some additional steps in most places. Face coverings will be required for all of our teams and customers, and we will provide them to customers who don't bring their own. Temperature checks will be conducted at the door, and posted health questions will screen for those with symptoms -- like cough or fever -- or who have had recent exposure to someone infected with COVID-19. Throughout the day, we're conducting enhanced deep clengs that place special emphasis on all surfaces, display products, and highly trafficked areas," O'Brien said.
( With inputs from ANI )