LA County officials are holding off until they can review the plan.
California hair salons and barbershops can resume indoor operations Monday, Aug. 31 under a new four-tier system unveiled Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The system — which the governor described as “stringent and slow” — replaces the state’s current COVID-19 watch list. Services at indoor gyms, bars, nail salons and dining inside restaurants will remain restricted across much of the state.
Salon and barbershop owners have been ready to get back to work since the state shut down their facilities a second time in July amid a spike in coronavirus cases.
Mikel Robles, owner of San Bernardino Cuts, called the new plan “great news.”
Others, like those in Los Angeles County, must wait.
LA County not there yet
Barbershop and salon openings in Los Angeles County will be delayed until health officials and the Board of Supervisors can review the new guidelines.
County health officials said Friday that while newly announced state guidelines authorize the reopening of indoor hair salons, barbershops — and even limited-capacity opening of indoor shopping malls — L.A. County’s health order does not yet permit such operations.
Local health officials are authorized to enact more restrictive orders than the state.
The need to adapt
Newsom said California has a long way to go.
“We have made notable progress over recent weeks, but the disease is still too widespread across the state,” he said in a statement. “COVID-19 will be with us for a long time and we all need to adapt.”
Under California’s new system, counties will be color-coded as either purple, red, orange or yellow depending on two criteria — case rates and the percentage of positive tests.
And salons and barbershops will be opening with modifications, including masks and social distancing, which will limit the number of clients inside.
Ready to reopen
The closure for Robles’ San Bernardino Cuts also included an apprenticeship barbering and cosmetology academy.
The reopening means his students can get back to work, too.
“We had to shut down our indoor operations in March,” he said. “We reopened a couple months later for two weeks, but then they shut us down again. I’m kind of boggled by it because we use a disinfectant that kills viruses, and we have to go through a state board exam with the Department of Consumers Affairs to be in compliance.”
San Bernardino Cuts employs seven workers, and the academy contracts with 100 barbershops throughout Southern California.
“This is great news not only for us but for our students,” Robles said. “They can’t wait to get back to work.”
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia hopes a decision regarding the opening of hair salons and barbershops in L.A. County will come early next week.
“That’s a decision the health teams and doctors at LA County Health and Long Beach Health will decide and discuss over the next few days,” he said.
“I also don’t want to get folks’ hopes up that somehow (salons and barbershops) are going to open Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday in Long Beach. That decision is not a decision I make,” he said.
Decisions to be made
Jose Luis Gutierrez owns Joe’s Barber Shop in Canoga Park. He hasn’t decided yet what he’s going to do.
So far, he hasn’t been able to serve customers outside because there isn’t enough room in the small parking lot he shares with a neighboring market. Plus, he couldn’t afford the effort.
“I would have to spend money to buy a tent and make it nice for the customers, and I haven’t been in a position to spend more money,” the 55-year-old Reseda resident said. “We lost 60% of our business by late March and I had to call the landlord and explain the situation.”
Gutierrez isn’t hopeful.
I have to decide if I’m going to continue because I’m really behind in bills,” he said. “I just not sure.”
(LA Daily News).