Marin hair salon workers demonstrated in San Rafael Thursday, expressing their frustration with the county’s latest public health order aimed at curbing the latest coronavirus surge.
About two dozen people turned out in front of the county public health office at the Marin Health and Wellness campus on Kerner Boulevard in the Canal neighborhood as part of an action dubbed, “Masks Work, Let Us Work.”
Demonstrators urged Dr. Matt Willis, the county’s public health officer, to allow hair salons, nail salons and barbershops to reopen at reduced capacity and with proper sanitation protocols in place. As part of the county’s new health order, which went into effect Tuesday, such personal services are prohibited from doing business. The order is in place until Jan. 4.
Event organizer Hilary Ritter, owner of Chevuex Salon in Corte Madera, said she found it unfair that the health department will not take into consideration the 1,600 hours of safety and sanitation training such workers are require to undergo for state licensure or the thousands of dollars in upgrades invested by owners aimed at meeting the new health standards.
“No one would be more upset than us if one of our clients got sick,” Ritter said. “But if we all show it worked, sanitizing, checking temperatures, asking questions to make sure people have not been exposed, then we deserve to be trusted a lot more than the Apple store does.
“It does not make sense and it’s killing small businesses, particularly female and minority owned businesses,” she said through a megaphone. “Get on board and start recognizing that we are safe and give us our jobs back.”
Willis said he understands protesters’ frustrations, but said the rules are coming from the state. He said while Marin is not in the worst off in the Bay Area, he decided to shut down early before ICU capacity fell below the 15% threshold set by the state to trigger the lockdown.
“Our decision was to put in place the state stay-at-home order that is already in place for the majority of the state now, three out of five jurisdictions,” he said. “It is possible that as early as tomorrow this will be mandated by the state.”
Rick Mount of Ladybug Salon in San Rafael said his salon has operated at 20% capacity and spent $4,000 putting up acrylic partitions. He said this is the third time in about a year that he has been forced to close and he’s lost 30% of his business. He and dozens of other salon owners and workers are struggling to keep up with rent.
“We are trying as hard as we can to comply with what is being thrown at us and then we get slammed down three weeks before Christmas … I have to put food on the table. I have to pay rent just like everyone else does.”
John Mok, who works at Honey & Comb Salon in Walnut Creek, came out to stand in solidarity with the salon community.
“We’ve been struggling and there is no relief,” Mok said. “We have debts we need to pay and all we want is to be able to work legally.”
Maya Webb, owner of Hendrick Color, said stylists understand the new health order is needed. She and others argue masks have been working and that there is no data that proves salons are the driving force in the spike in cases.
Willis said there has been some spread through personal services, but it is often difficult to pinpoint the exact setting.
The strict order shutting down salons will lead to hairdressers going “underground” to meet with clients at their homes, which is not as safe, Webb argued.
“This has already been happening. We all lost clients to someone else who was willing to see them in their backyard,” Webb said. “County or state officials should come and look at salons and see how we follow protocols. Another solution is to work outside.”
Willis said he appreciates the effort put into sanitation efforts, and said the state’s logic to close indoor personal services is due to longer and more intimate interactions between workers and clients compared to retail.
He said he trusted that the community would pull together and follow the order. He suggested people support small businesses by pre-paying for future appointments for early next year, once vaccines are distributed and the curve begins to flatten.
“No one wants to have to make this kind of decision,” he said. “What we are doing is choosing between two real harms and, you know, my belief, and there is clear evidence when you are seeing surges in cases like this, is the earlier you take actions … the faster you get back on track. That is our goal.”
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