Fear of the highly contagious coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has led to a ban on large public gatherings. This, in turn, has caused E3 to be canceled, the NBA season to be suspended, Disneyland and Universal Studios to shut down, the suspension of Pokémon GO's Abra Community Day, and now reduced hours at New York's Nintendo Store.
While most major retailers are staying open despite shortages of essential supplies like water, the Nintendo Store in New York is taking a different approach. In an effort to prevent any further spread of the coronavirus, the store announced on Twitter that it will be reducing its open hours and be taking other steps combat the virus.
Starting today, March 15th, Nintendo's New York store will be reducing it's opening hours for the foreseeable future. From Monday to Friday, it will be open from 11:00 am to 8:00pm, and on the weekends from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. The store is also closely following guidance provided by the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control, and local public health departments. This means the store is increasing deep cleaning services, limiting the number of customers allowed in the store at once, and has cancelled all in-store events.
Demo stations will also be wiped down regularly, which is a good idea since many customers visiting the store will probably want to try Pokémon Sword and Shield's Expansion Pass. Staff have also been advised to stay at home and self-quarantine if they feel unwell for up to 14 days.
While some may be disregarding the coronavirus as nothing but overblown panic, Nintendo is clearly taking the situation seriously, especially after the coronavirus reached Nintendo of America's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. It was discovered on Friday that a Nintendo employee tested positive for the coronavirus. Now all staff who came into contact with this individual are in self-quarantine. In an effort to prevent this from happening again, Nintendo is allowing all of its employees within the states of California and Washington to work from home.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is encouraging people to avoid going into public areas if they can, including the gym. This has led to more people exercising at home, and what better way to do so than with Nintendo's very own Ring Fit Adventure? Unfortunately, so many people are looking at the fitness-RPG as a safer alternative to the gym that the game is experiencing shortages in America. The fact that the availability of Nintendo Switch products have been affected by the coronavirus due to them largely being manufactured in China, where the virus originated, may also have something to do with it.
