Alameda County plans to open indoor barbershops and hair salons Friday, a decision that will be a boon for the East Bay and also spotlights San Francisco as the only one of the Bay Area’s nine counties where indoor haircuts still are not permitted.
Alameda is among the seven Bay Area counties in the state’s worst, “purple,” coronavirus tier, in which the virus is considered “widespread.” Six of those counties embraced the new permissions to allow indoor haircuts Monday, and Alameda is following suit ahead of Labor Day weekend.
San Francisco and Napa are in the slightly better red, or “substantial” spread, tier. Napa moved forward with reopening indoor salons Monday. San Francisco began allowing salons to open on Tuesday — but only outside.
“I think they’re trying to appease us by throwing us a bone and saying: ‘OK, go outside,’” said Deedee Crossett, the dean at the San Francisco Institute of Esthetics and Cosmetology. “But this isn’t a bar or restaurant. It isn’t safe to sit outside and get personal services on the corner of Folsom and Seventh.”
Many authority figures seem to agree.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got a hair treatment indoors this week in violation of rules at eSalon in the Cow Hollow neighborhood, and Mayor London Breed said Tuesday: “I sure don’t want to get my hair done outside.”
Two coronavirus-positive hairstylists at a Great Clips in Missouri potentially exposed 140 customers and six co-workers in May. But because of face coverings and sanitation protocol, however, health officials said there were zero new cases from the establishment.
“We know we can keep ourselves and our clients safe,” Crossett said. “We’re not interested in not following health regulations. We don’t want to get COVID, either. We’re not immune.”
The state regulations that Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Aug. 28 allowed barbershops and hair salons to open indoors, even in the worst-hit counties. But it is up to each county to decide if it wants to loosen restrictions.
Alameda is still the region’s worst with nearly 19,000 reported cases, but it is also the second-most populous Bay Area county, and coronavirus hospitalizations and rates appear to be stabilizing. Thus, the county is moving forward.
The county will allow outdoor family recreation (kart racing, mini golf, batting cages) and indoor malls up to 25% capacity Friday, in addition to opening inside services at barbershops and hair salons.
“The ability to open indoors is a gift to most hair salons and barbershops, yet it excludes the rest of our entire industry,” said Alicia Orabella, the owner of Orabella Hair Studio in Oakland. “We still have licensed professionals — referencing the manicurists, estheticians and electrologists — working outdoors in the smoke, in unsafe and unsanitary conditions. This is not a long-term solution for our industry.”
Orabella, who will reopen her salon on Friday, took out a $25,000 Small Business Administration disaster-relief loan and estimates that she has lost another $75,000 in business at her Piedmont Avenue location and her work as an educator at Keune Academy.
Although she couldn’t open the doors of her studio since mid-March or fly to Georgia to teach, Orabella has worked tirelessly to lobby for her industry. She started “Pro Beauty, Inside,” which rallied and cut hair on the steps of the state Capitol last month.
“We continue to work behind the scenes to get the rest of our industry off of the streets, safely inside,” she said. “I’ve spent hours rescheduling my 125 clients dating back to March in preparation of opening tomorrow.
“I have many more hours to go.”
Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Alameda County malls, indoor hair salons can open on Friday - San Francisco Chronicle"
Post a Comment