Apple Stores in Italy Will Begin Reopening on May 19

Every shop is reopening in Italy next Monday.

Apple choose not to reopen in the two most critical areas. This absolutely makes sense and it would be odd to see Apple keeping stores closed here.

find it very strange, Italy is far from free of the virus. Unlike the Netherlands, where there are almost no more infections, the Apple Stores remain closed

Do you live in Italy? Where your words coming from? Honestly i live in Italy and the situation is way better than many other countries in the world now. 19 May almost anything will open, with masks, distance etc etc but will open. The lock down worked and in many areas of Italy the virus is almost at 0 cases. Italy is divided in 20 regions and only in 2 (Lombardia and Piemonte) the virus is still "high" but the virus curve tendency is anyway going down. I live in a region of 3 millions persons and yesterday was only 19 persons in intense therapy and 400 in hospitals...and in all Italy (60 millions) yesterday was only 888 new cases. The new medical therapies discovered and tested in Italy (Plasma and more) are giving excellent results and in general the infected are not going to the intense therapies anymore. Many infected are going out from the infection in a short time compared to before and many incredibly are out of the virus in 48h...Hospitals are emptying in all Italy and covid departments closing... Till the vaccine no one in the world is safe but with precautions normal life can start again... So please before give fake information...ask. Cheers ;)

Italy virus map ( in italian sorry) ('https://opendatadpc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/b0c68bce2cce478eaac82fe38d4138b1')

Official Government virus website information (english) ('http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/risk-activities/health-risk/emergencies/coronavirus') - daily updated -

official pdf with detailed numbers about the virus in italy (in italian sorry) ('http://www.salute.gov.it/imgs/C_17_notizie_4745_0_file.pdf')

One of the reasons of closing down lots of businesses in the beginning of the pandemic (not just apple) is because nobody knew how fast or furious the virus would spread. The country wide lockdowns were initiated as a drastic control method to control the explosion of the virus.

Now that time has passed and we can see numbers on how it is spreading, (it's not out control) it only makes sense to open up a little more and try to get back to life. We can't all stay cowering in our homes forever. That'll wipe out mankind faster than the virus.

It would seem that blue collar workers around the globe are being used as Guinea pigs in kick starting the economy.

Unfortunately this is only going to contribute to a second spike in COVID-19 a surge in mortality and ultimately a return to lockdown resulting in a deeper recession, increased unemployment and poverty for millions.

They are not used as Guinea pigs, they are the ones suffering the most from this lockdown.
No one does not expect a "surge in mortality", or even in cases. We all know that it's going to happen, and it was never claimed by anyone that we would prevent that, lockdown or not.
What we tried to do for months, was to avoid the overwhelming of the healthcare system (the so called "flattening of the curve"). Now, we had months to study this virus, we had months to prepare, and we had months to understand the best behavior. In the US there is a big overstock of ventilators and respirators. The EU also is now in decent shape. Is everything perfect and under control? No, but now we can handle this horrible virus in a way that does not also destroys everything else.

find it very strange, Italy is far from free of the virus. Unlike the Netherlands, where there are almost no more infections, the Apple Stores remain closed

Staring next week many retails store are allowed to open.
One of the biggest electronics shop in Italy has been opened for weeks, so many of the Apple premium resellers. They could, as they were considered strategic since people are working from home and need to buy/repair PCs and smartphones.
However, some regions in Italy could impose more restrictions, the iconic store in downtown Milan will likely stay closed for a while.
Most of the infection and casualties are concentrated in 3 regions in Italy, in particular the northern area. Elsewhere the situation is way better.
Restrictions are still in place to travel between regions in order to avoid spreading the virus, but inside each region people are allowed to travel to go to work and visit relatives and as I said retail stores are going to open next Monday

Second wave to strike in 3..2..1..

In most european countries shops will reopen (or are already open) with strict hygiene regulations from the government.
You know, life has to go on somehow.