As of today, California counties that get the go-ahead may reopen barbershops and hair salons. This announcement means that some California counties can officially move into Phase 3 of the state’s four-phase reopening plan.
This announcement is not state-wide, but if a county can self-attest that they meet the state’s standards, they are allowed to reopen their barbershops and hair salons using the specific guidelines that the state released today.
Guidelines are detailed but include specifications on face coverings, sanitation, physical distancing and more. For example, according to the guidelines, salons need to “implement measures to ensure physical distancing of at least six feet between and among workers and customers, except when providing haircutting and other close contact services. This can include use of physical partitions or visual cues (e.g., floor markings, colored tape, or signs to indicate to where workers and/or customers should stand).”
Read the full guidelines on the state’s website.
As a reminder, county variance can be granted if counties can self-attest to the following criteria:
- Counties can’t have more than a 5 percent increase in hospitalization within the last 7 days on average OR, in smaller counties, no more than 20 COVID-19 hospitalizations in any of the last 14 days.
- Counties can’t have more than 25 COVID-19 diagnoses per 100,000 residents in the last 14 days OR they have to have less than an 8 percent COVID-19 positivity rate.
- Counties need a minimum daily testing of 1.5 tests per 1,000 residents per day.
- Counties need at least 15 trained contact tracers per 100,000 residents.
- Counties need to work closely with skilled nursing facilities.
- Counties need to protect essential workforce.
- Counties need to work with local hospitals to demonstrate the ability to maintain surge capacity.
- And, lastly, counties need to be able to pull back if needed.
In the Bay Area and other California areas where there are stricter shelter in place orders, these guidelines are useful to look at, but cannot be implemented until local health departments give the go-ahead. In Santa Clara County, their new shelter in place order, which went into effect on May 22, is now indefinite.
Though modifications keep coming, the following sectors are not open in California:
- Personal services such as nail salons, tattoo parlors, gyms and fitness studios
- Hospitality services, such as bars, wineries, tasting rooms and lounges
- Entertainment venues, such as movie theaters, gaming, gambling, arcade venues, pro sports, indoor museums, gallery spaces, and zoos
- Community centers, public pools, playgrounds, and picnic areas
- Cultural ceremonies
- Nightclubs
- Concert venues
- Live audience sports
- Festivals
- Theme parks
- Hotels/lodging for leisure and tourism
For more information, visit covid19.ca.gov.
