Nike has closed its headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, following reports of the first Coronavirus fatality in the United States on February 29, 2020. The company has announced that the office will be temporarily closed for “deep cleaning” of the entire area, writes BusinessInsider.
“Although we don’t have any information indicating any impact on Nike’s employees, we are conducting a deep cleanup of the campus as a precaution,” said a Nike spokesman for KGW, Portland, Oregon, an NBC subsidiary. “All WHQ buildings and facilities, including fitness centers, will be closed over the weekend,” the company’s press office commented.
On February 28, the first officially confirmed case of COVID-19 in Oregon became known. Another six people are currently under surveillance awaiting test results. The first two fatal cases in the U.S. were recorded in neighboring Washington state. Doctors expect the virus to spread further in the country over the next six weeks.
Nike’s decision to close its headquarters was the first time in the U.S. market that a large international corporation was forced to suspend its office due to the virus. In other countries, similar practices have been in place since January. In China, for example, all Apple offices and retail stores were closed. It has now become known that many companies, including Starbucks and Apple, are opening retail outlets in the Celestial Empire after several weeks of quarantine.
