Local News

Apple Will Send Coronavirus Test Kits to Employees' Homes

July 13, 2020 / 9:11 PM PDT / CBS San Francisco

CUPERTINO (CBS/CNN) -- Apple employees working remotely can now get tested for the coronavirus without leaving the house.

The Cupertino company said Monday that COVID-19 test kits will be shipped to its workers' homes -- including those employees who staff the company's retail stores, many of which have been closed due to the ongoing pandemic,

The news was first reported by Bloomberg.

Apple has been cautious about reopening its offices and retail outlets as coronavirus cases continue to spike in several states.

The company reopened more than 100 U.S. stores in early March but re-closed most of those last month. It is also offering only curbside pickup at several stores and requiring temperature checks for employees and customers at stores that are allowing people inside.

BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 01: A Chinese employee wears a protective mask as he sits in the showroom of an Apple Store after it closed for the day on February 1, 2020 in a shopping district in Beijing, China. Apple announced it was closing all of its stores in China until February 9th due to the outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan, The number of cases of a deadly new coronavirus rose to almost 12000 in mainland China Saturday, days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a global public health emergency. China continued to lock down the city of Wuhan in an effort to contain the spread of the pneumonia-like disease which medicals experts have confirmed can be passed from human to human. In an unprecedented move, Chinese authorities have put travel restrictions on the city which is the epicentre of the virus and neighbouring municipalities affecting tens of millions of people. The number of those who have died from the virus in China climbed to over 250 on Saturday, mostly in Hubei province, and cases have been reported in other countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and several others. The World Health Organization has warned all governments to be on alert and screening has been stepped up at airports around the world. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

The company also reportedly began offering COVID-19 nasal swab tests to employees returning to its headquarters in Cupertino in May.

Apple is not the only tech company testing its employees.

Amazon, which has been criticized for not doing enough to protect its warehouse workers during the pandemic, said in April that it was developing a COVID-19 testing lab and would start testing "small numbers of employees."

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