After temporarily closing its stores nationwide in response to COVID-19 outbreak, Macy’s today issued a statement saying that they lost the majority of their sales due to the store closures.

“Our top priority is the health and safety of our customers, colleagues and communities during this unprecedented crisis. All of our stores have been closed since March 18th and will remain closed until we have clear line of sight on when it is safe to reopen.”-said Jeff Gennette, chairman and CEO of Macy’s, Inc. “Across Macy’s, Bloomingdales, and Bluemercury brands, we will be moving to the absolute minimum workforce needed to maintain basic operations. This means the majority of our colleagues will go on furlough beginning this week.”

Macy’s will continue to serve its customers through digital businesses(Macys.com, Bloomingdales, and Bluemercury brands)and through its mobile apps.

As of Q4 2019, Macy’s had about 125,000 employees and 775 stores.

“At least through May, furloughed colleagues who are enrolled in health benefits will continue to receive coverage with the company covering 100% of the premium.”-it is said in the statement.

According to one employee, Jeff Gannette said in the message to employees that furloughs won’t be based on performance or tenure. And he added that:”Furloughed colleagues are eligible to take advantage of unemployment insurance and other state and federal relief programs where available. This includes the enhanced unemployment benefits included in the federal CARES Act that was signed into law on Friday.”