Microsoft is closing its stores in the face of the coronavirus epidemic, joining popular ranks.
Microsoft closes stores in the face of coronavirus
“We are closing Microsoft store locations to help protect the health and safety of our customers and employees. During this unprecedented time, the best way we can serve you is to do everything we can to help minimize the risk of the virus spreading,” Microsoft says. Its stores are closing specifically because of COVID-19 health concerns. Microsoft says it will continue to pay employees for their regular hours.
Microsoft joins popular ranks in closing its stores
The tech company is but one of a handful of companies that are closing its retail stores due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company’s announcement is reasonable in light of person-to-person encounters in retail stores. When one thinks about customers using touch to engage with its products (laptops, for example), touching is the last thing consumers need to do in public at this time.
What makes COVID-19 such a threat is that it acts as a silent infecter. A number of individuals here in the US have been affected by COVID-19 who have had no contact with places such as South Korea, Italy, Japan, or China. New infections are occurring despite the lack of visitation to the nursing home facility in Kirkland, Washington. Kirkland is acting as its own mini-epicenter of the American coronavirus strand.
A number of people in Washington state, out of the blue, are appearing with coronavirus symptoms rather quickly. This is leading doctors and medical personnel to suspect that the virus has been spreading rapidly while going virtually undetectable. Microsoft has its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Redmond is only 4 miles (12 minutes) by car from Kirkland, where the Life Care Center nursing facility is reporting a large number of infections.
A disease that can go undetected in potential carriers makes COVID-19 far more lethal than influenza. Flu will show symptoms. Cold will show symptoms. Bad allergies will show symptoms (sneezing among them, perhaps complaining of a sinus headache or two). A COVID-19 infector can be sick with the disease and give it to others without the slightest display of symptoms.
President’s order moves Microsoft, other companies, to go home
US President Donald Trump says American citizens are to avoid large crowds. He also says that gatherings should not have more than ten people, down from the limit of fifty people within the last few weeks. At this point, Microsoft obviously employs more than ten people and would have to send most of its workforce home anyway. Additionally, the company would have to limit the number of visitors to its retail stores, which wouldn’t make the experience fun for most. To send one employee home is to send them all home, so Microsoft is doing what any business in its shoes would do (and is doing).
Microsoft isn’t alone in closing down its stores. Google has told its global employees to work remotely until April 10th. Verizon and T-Mobile are closing their retail stores temporarily to fight the spread of the disease.