December 17, 2021: -On Wednesday, Apple temporarily shut three stores as Covid-19 cases increased.

According to Apple’s website, a store in Miami is closed through Thursday, and a store in Ottawa, Ontario, and a third in Annapolis, Md., are closed through on Friday.

The closures produced questions about the impact of the Covid pandemic on the holiday-shopping season amid concerns from public health authorities on the effect of the omicron variant, appearing to be more transmissible.

“We monitor conditions, and we will adjust our health measures to support the wellbeing of customers and employees,” said an Apple spokesperson. “We remain committed to a comprehensive approach for our teams that combines regular which tests with daily health checks, employee and customer masking, deep cleaning, and paid sick leave,” the spokesperson added.

Apple said that store employees would take Covid-19 tests before reopening, so the closures could be delayed beyond Thursday and Friday, depending on the results. Apple’s retail employees have had access to weekly at-home tests provided by the company since this year.

Apple also announced this week that it would require face masks for customers at all stores in the United States.

In addition to the closing of the stores, the iPhone maker has adjusted individual store policies in response to regional conditions, emphasizing customer pickups via online purchases instead of in-store shopping and increasing the amount of space to social distance.

Apple is closing all of its stores in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. All the stores reopened this year. Since then, Apple has sometimes closed stores, which cited coronavirus conditions, including a Texas location last week.

Apple’s headquarter, California, has imposed a month-long indoor mask mandate.