By Tripp Mickle and Heather Haddon

Apple Inc. said it would re-close nearly a dozen stores across four states where cases of the coronavirus have climbed, showing wariness in the business community about the safety of reopening in some places.

Retailers from Best Buy Co. to Macy's Inc. have set plans to reopen hundreds of U.S. locations by the end of June. Those that were forced to close in March have taken various approaches to reopening, with some wanting to move faster or more deliberately than local policy makers would allow.

Apple has taken a more conservative to store operations than other retailers. In mid-March, it was among the first to close its roughly 270 stores in the U.S., and upon reopening some stores in May, it required that staff and customers and staff wear masks and undergo temperature checks.

The closure of 11 of its stores -- two near Charlotte, N.C., one near Greenville, S.C., two near Naples, Fla., and six across Arizona -- showed that it is evaluating local information about positive Covid-19 test results and taking measures to protect staff and customers from infection, as well as its brand from negative publicity of an outbreak at stores, analysts said.

"We take this step with an abundance of caution as we closely monitor the situation, and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as soon as possible," an Apple spokesman said in a statement. The company declined to comment further on the decision.

Apple's announcement weighed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the company's share price slipped 0.6% Friday.

Other retailers are likely to follow Apple in toggling operations on and off based on local data, said Jean-Emmanuel Biondi, principal in Deloitte Consulting's retail practice.

Many of the companies Deloitte advises, which includes the country's top retailers, have set up command centers with executives from operations, distribution, human resources and merchandising. They are evaluating case levels where they have stores and reviewing GPS data that shows how far people travel from their homes, a barometer of people's comfort with returning to everyday life.

Mr. Biondi said reopenings will be faster in the future because companies now have set policies for store operations during the pandemic, including maps for how traffic should flow from doorways to checkout counters.

More than a dozen U.S. states have reported case increases over the past week at a faster pace than a week prior, according to The Wall Street Journal's analysis of Johns Hopkins data.

This week, Texas, Arizona and North Carolina reported record daily virus-related hospitalizations. Florida on Friday reported a record number of daily cases. The state began the second phase of its reopening June 5, which included movie theaters, bars and other entertainment venues.

New York City begins the second phase of its economic reopening next week.

Companies are adjusting quickly as they try to restart their businesses. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. said Friday that it would require customers to wear a mask when it reopens its theaters next month, reversing a controversial element of a plan the company announced just a day earlier.

Some sit-down restaurants and venues have closed again after resuming interior service because employees have tested positive for coronavirus. The closures are adding more expenses to restaurants already facing a big drop in business and uncertain returns going forward.

A Chattanooga, Tenn., location of the Dave & Buster's Entertainment Inc. restaurant and arcade chain said Wednesday that it had to close after an employee tested positive for the virus. The location notified the local health department and employees, and did a deep cleaning of the store, it said. It reopened later this week after an inspection and plans to broadcast a heavyweight fight this weekend.

Brunch restaurant Hash Kitchen closed its Arcadia, Ariz., location last week after an individual that was at the restaurant found out they had contracted the virus, it said. The company increased its cleaning, including hiring a service to perform an antivirus misting of its restaurants weekly, it said.

Hash Kitchen also will be conducting daily tests of all employees after another case was found Thursday at their sister restaurant, which it has closed temporarily. The tests will rotate so that each employee receives a test at least every five days.

Many fast-food restaurant location owners with busy drive-throughs are trying to keep their lobbies closed for dining as long as possible because of the risks associated with reopening, including having to close again after a case.

McDonald's Corp. hasn't had to close restaurants again among the roughly 1,400 U.S. locations that have reopened for dine-in service with limited dine-in seating, executives said on a call with operators this week. But the company is closely watching hot spot states for new virus cases as it takes a slow approach to resuming service.

"It is about trying to make sure we don't have a resurgence. The worst thing that could happen would be to reopen and have to close again," said Charlie Strong, a zone president for McDonald's U.S. division, during the call.

It isn't just consumer-facing businesses that have had to shut down after reopening. A handful of positive Covid-19 cases briefly suspended work at Ford Motor Co.'s SUV plant in Chicago and a truck factory in Michigan last month.

Vice President Mike Pence said in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that concerns about a second wave of outbreaks were "overblown." He said states across half of the U.S. were reporting declines in cases.

Apple was one of the first major U.S. retailers in mid-March to close its stores nationwide amid the pandemic. In reopened stores, Apple has required customers and employees to wear masks. The company also instituted other safety measures, including temperature checks at the door and social distancing inside.

Though public health authorities have recommended people wear masks to help curb the virus's spread, requirements to wear them in certain settings have become a politically divisive issue, with some people viewing them as an infringement on personal freedom.

Closing a handful of Apple stores will have limited impact on Apple sales. About 8% of Apple's $260 billion in annual sales occur at physical retail stores, according to Loup Ventures, a research-driven venture-capital firm.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives called the closures "worrisome," though, saying they spoke to "the volatility and fluidity of this Covid environment" and showed that retailers will continue to be cautious as "spikes are seen in geographic pockets."

Next week Apple is planning to host its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, where it unveils new software and technologies. The conference is being held virtually for the first time in its more than three-decade history.

Write to Tripp Mickle at Tripp.Mickle@wsj.com and Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com