Manicurist Julie Bailey is masked to provide services at Radiance Salon & Skin Care. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
Hair salons and barbershops got the green light May 30 from the California Department of Public Health to reopen in Santa Cruz County after being closed since March 16 to slow the spread of contagious COVID-19.
Radiance Salon & Skin Care in Aptos, owned by Heather Bailey, reopened two weeks ago. JuIle Bailey, her daughter, who is a manicurist makeup artist, began offering nail services Monday once they were allowed by the state.
Gina Tufo welcomes a customer at her shop, Aptos Haircut. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
Gina Tufo, owner of Aptos Haircut Co., is cutting hair again, with customers this week braving the construction on Soquel Drive to install a traffic signal, railroad crossing and curb, gutter and sidewalk.
Tufo took advantage of a new blue “Screaming Hand” floor decal offered by the county to remind everyone that “Clean Hands Save Lives.”
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In Capitola Village, Vice Salon reopened four weeks ago and is observing all the new safety protocols. For example, patrons must wait outside for their appointment.
Ashley Wilson, receptionist at Vice Salon in Capitola Village, greets patrons. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
Nail services became available about a week ago.
“We’ve had a lot of calls, a lot of new business,” said Ashley Wilson, the receptionist, who described her own hair color as vivid purple and red velvet.
Across the street at Monet Salon, owner Julie Monet — appropriately masked — sat outside to welcome customers.
She said the new rules allow one person per 100 square feet, and with her salon being 555 square feet, she can allow at most five people inside.
Julie Monet, owner of Monet Salon in Capitola Village, wears her mask. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
The samples and the magazines have disappeared — no longer allowed — and a clean drape is provided for each client. When the client departs, everything is sanitized.
“I feel like we have a good safe system,” Monet said.
Asked how business is going, she said, “Honestly we have a lot of new clients, they don’t want to drive over the hill. They’re coming from San Francisco, Santa Clara, Palo Alto, and their salons are not open yet.”
Patrizia Avila, owner of Studio Bloom Hair Salon, welcomes clients in Soquel. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
She said some clients are concerned about a spike in COVID-19 and not ready to come back.
In Soquel Village, Patrizia Avila, owner of Studio Bloom Hair Salon, reopened June 8, with her daughter Karla to help her out.
She’s got a sign outside the salon to alert clients as to the “wait outside” protocol.
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Sue Carlson, owner and stylist at Classic Hair in Scotts Valley, was ready to reopen the moment hair salons and barbershops got the green light.
Sue Carlson, owner of Classic Hair in Scotts Valley, reopened her salon the day the state gave the okay. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
“I got a text at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday,” she said.
She reopened that day, and her salon, which has 10 stylists, has been busy ever since.
“We’re excited to be open,” said Carlson, who’s been in business since 1990 and never experienced a shutdown of this nature.
What people don’t realize, she said, is that it took “months and months” of effort, sending emails, writing letters, meetings via Zoom with Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel.
“It was very stressful,” Carlson said.
Carlson said she advocated for all salons to reopen after she realized salons and barbershops were not on the county’s list of businesses to reopen next.
She thanked Mayor Randy Johnson, Vice Mayor Derek Timm and City Council member Donna Lind for submitting a plan to allow salons to reopen. When county supervisors agreed to ask the state for a variance allowing more businesses to reopen, the request prepared by Dr. Newel included hair salons, barbershops and dine-in service at restaurants.
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Of course, salons that reopen must abide by a long list of new safety protocols, such as sanitizing and staff and patrons wearing a mask.
A Great Clips salon in Springfield, Missouri, made headlines after two stylists wearing masks saw 140 customers over nine days before testing positive for COVID-19. Great Clips required customers to wear masks, too, but health officials feared an outbreak. They tracked down customers using Great Clips’ online reservation system and offered them free testing. Only 46 agreed to be tested, but all the tests were negative, prompting the local health department director, who had been a skeptic, to embrace wearing a face mask when in public.
A third of the training to become a stylist is sanitation, observed Steve Horlock, Classic Hair’s sole male stylist.
When Carlson designed her 2,000-square-foot salon on Scotts Valley Drive, she put the chairs for each stylist six feet apart.
“I wanted space,” she said.
That decision looks smart now that the COVID-19 physical distancing rules require people in the salon to stay six apart.
Not all salons have reopened, and Carlson said small salons operating in 500 square feet may not have enough space.
She said customers are coming from over the hill because salons in Santa Clara County are not allowed to reopen yet.
“It’s not an easy time,” she said. “You need to have grace.”
At Mr. D’s Barber Shop in Scotts Valley, Quynh Nguyen gives Tyson Durm of Felton a trim. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
Mr D’s Barber Shop, on Mount Hermon Road, reopened June 1.
“We couldn’t be happier,” said Quynh Nguyen, clippers in hand.
On Tuesday, she gave Tyson Durm, a customer from Felton, a much-needed trim.
“My wife had to cut my hair with a dull scissors,” said Durm.
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COVID-19 Cases Jump
As of Wednesday, July 1, Santa Cruz County reported 399 confirmed cases, 17,127 negative test results, and three deaths, the latest being a 90-year-old man in hospice in mid-June.
Twenty-three cases were confirmed June 29, up from 21 on June 22 and the most new cases since the pandemic arrived. Nineteen new cases were confirmed June 30.
County spokesman Jason Hoppin attributed the big number to catching up on a weekend backlog.
Of the total cases, 10 are in Scotts Valley, 20 in Capitola, 76 in Santa Cruz, 80 in unincorporated areas, 205 in Watsonville, with eight under investigation.
Of the 146 active cases, 16 are hospitalized, 10 confirmed (including one in intensive care) and six suspected cases. Active cases mean health staff inquire who you’ve been in contact with, as in the Missouri case, and offer free testing.
People 65 and older are more likely to have complications from COVID-19 because they are more likely to have conditions such as heart or lunch disease or diabetes.
A third of the Santa Cruz County cases –130 – are among millennials age 18 to 34, which Newel, the health officer, said is a trend across California and the nation. She worries young people may put older household members and community members at risk.
Newel opened county beaches as of June 26, eliminating daytime restrictions, saying it was impossible for law enforcement to enforce the daytime closure.
She said the shelter-in-place order is likely to be lifted after July 6.
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The new protocol for salons and barber shops is for patrons and service providers to wear masks to prevent transmission of COVID-19. Then, on June 18, Gov. Newsom ordered face coverings be worn while in public, and face coverings are now required for children age 2 to 12 who were exempted before.