NEW YORK — Macy's swung to a quarterly loss and sales tumbled 22% as the department store chain struggled to bring shoppers back to stores during a pandemic.

While the storied retailer did better than most had expected during the third quarter, cases of COVID-19 have begun to surge across the country just as what is typically the holiday shopping season kicks off. Macy's has already closed its store in El Paso, Texas, where overwhelmed morgues have begun paying jail inmates $2 an hour to help transport the bodies of virus victims.

More closings could be on the way.

“COVID is surging again across the country and that continues to impede our recovery in international tourism and urban areas,” said Chief Financial Officer Adrian Mitchell. “And the supply chains have opened up, yet bottlenecks remain.”