According to a new report today, Apple has ramped up cleaning efforts in its United States retail stores in an effort to protect employees and customers as the coronavirus spreads, multiple Apple Store employees have told Business Insider. The company is also urging employees to replace travel with virtual meetings when possible and has reiterated that workers should stay home if they're feeling sick or experiencing any symptoms. 

Over the past month or so, Apple has taken three key measures to keep stores clean: increasing the presence of cleaning staff, installing hand sanitizer stations in stores, and asking employees to wipe down demo devices and surfaces more frequently, according to three current employees working at stores in three different states.

One employee said that cleaning staff are present during most of the store's open hours, while another said that cleaners are coming in multiple times per day. That latter employee said that while cleaning staff used to primarily focus on areas like the floors and bathrooms, they're now expanding to clean areas like doors and employee lockers as well.

"Our cleaning allotment has been doubled straight out," one of the three current workers said.

Apple Store staff are also being told to sanitize devices throughout the store multiple times per day.

While its normal for managers to advise staff to occasionally wipe down surfaces during the flu season, this more formal push to do so is out of the ordinary, one person said. For more on this read the full Business Insider report.