Hair Salons, Others Reopen In Riverside County: Vigilance Sought
RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that Riverside County, among others, can reopen hair salons and barbershops. However, the governor — as well as county and city officials — is recommending that even though coronavirus restrictions are easing, residents should still continue physical distancing and wearing face masks where it makes sense, like grocery stores, doctors' offices and other gathering places.
The state guidelines for hair salons and barbershops require that services must be limited to those that can be provided with both the worker and customer wearing face coverings for the entirety of the service. For example, haircuts, weaves and extensions, braiding, lock maintenance, wig maintenance, hair relaxing treatments, and color services can be provided.
But those services that require touching of a customer’s face, such as facials, eyelash adjustments, eyebrow waxing and threading, are not allowed. Nail salons cannot reopen.
Preventative measures outlined in the state's guidelines for reopening hair salons and barbershops include:
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.
Provide temperature and/or symptom screenings for all workers at the beginning of their shift and any vendors, contractors, or other workers entering the establishment.
Encourage workers and customers who are sick or exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 to stay home.
Screen customers upon arrival and be prepared to cancel or reschedule customers who indicate they have any signs of illness.
Require workers and customers to use face coverings during the entire haircutting and other close contact hair services.
While the new guidelines are welcomed by many small business owners, health and government officials are emphasizing that the coronavirus continues to be an issue within the community. Residents are strongly encouraged to wear face coverings and maintain social distancing when possible.
“We cannot lose sight of our history and the family members and friends we have lost to coronavirus, or that we may not be out of the first wave of this pandemic,” said Riverside County Board Chair V. Manuel Perez, Fourth District Supervisor. “There is also a great need to help more people safely return to work, including barbers and hairdressers, who have been among the most impacted financially. Moving forward, we will need to ensure that as a county we do everything possible to take care and protect our families from this pandemic while ensuring that people can also work to take care of their families.”
In Riverside County, as of Tuesday there are 7,139 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 303 deaths. Hospitalizations stand at 193 — with 63 of those patients in ICU. To date, 4,285 Riverside County residents have recovered from the illness.
"Let us not forget the vulnerable among us," Newsom said during his Tuesday news briefing. "By no stretch of the imagination is this virus behind us. We're not even out of the first wave of this pandemic."
According to state statistics, 19.5% of COVID-19 cases in California are in people age 65 and older, yet among those people 79.2% have died, the governor said, adding, "be sober" about the reality of this virus.
Riverside is one of 47 counties that has been approved for a regional variance to move forward with some modified reopening, including salons and barbershops. State guidelines for reopening summer camps, daycare facilities and schools could be released as soon as Wednesday, Newsom said. Guidelines for restarting television and film production may be announced as early as the weekend, the governor said. There is still no word on when gyms may reopen, much less entertainment and sporting venues.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Los Angeles and Imperial are the only two Southern California counties that have not been approved for a regional variance.
In recent days, Riverside County has been approved by the state to reopen in-restaurant dining, retail, and in-person worship services — with modifications. See the state guidelines: Worship; Dine-In Restaurants; Retail.
Locally, county and city officials are campaigning to get more residents tested for COVID-19. On Thursday, more than 20 elected officials and 60 city employees from throughout Southwest Riverside County came together at the Lake Elsinore Diamond Stadium COVID-19 testing site "to lead by example and urge residents to get tested for COVID-19 to reopen our economy sooner," according to Lake Elsinore spokesperson Nicole Dailey.
Similar events took place in recent days in Temecula and the Coachella Valley.
A public service announcement advocating for testing was even released by Lake Elsinore city officials. Watch it here.
As of Tuesday, 106,529 people have been tested for the virus in Riverside County. The state's decision to move forward with more reopening is based in part on "positivity rates" in the state and counties. According to Newsom, California's positivity rate over the last seven days is 4.2% and over the last 14 days 4.1%. Positivity rate is the percentage of positive cases among those tests within the given period.
Newsom had previously called for a positivity rate of less than 8% for counties that want to accelerate their reopenings, and Riverside County has been meeting the benchmark.
This article originally appeared on the Lake Elsinore-Wildomar Patch
