Redwood City – Beginning Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, hair salons and barbershops will be allowed to operate indoors in San Mateo County under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new color-coded reopening system which ranks counties based on COVID-19 case counts and positivity rate.
San Mateo County, which the state cites as having 8.6 new positive cases per 100,000 residents and a 4.8 percent positivity rate, is in the purple tier which denotes a “widespread” county risk level. Counties in that tier have more than seven new daily cases per 100,000 and more than 8 percent positive tests. Although San Mateo County’s positivity rate falls in the “moderate risk” level, the stricter tier takes precedence.
At a minimum, counties must remain in a tier for at least three weeks before moving forward but as of Aug. 31 purple-ranked counties may open some businesses and activities with modifications such as all retail and shopping centers at a maximum 25 percent capacity, and hair salons and barbershops indoors.
County Manager Mike Callagy said while local officials still dispute being placed on the state monitoring list last month, the loosened restrictions are a good sign.
“We have repeatedly said that the spread of the virus in our community is not linked to businesses like hair salons and we could see the economic hardship on those businesses that couldn’t modify to operate outdoors. We are very happy to see them reopen and with the effort of our residents to wear face coverings and avoid large gatherings, we hope to soon move to the next tier and loosen even more restrictions,” Callagy said. “Our comeback depends on all of us.”
Information on the state’s new “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” and the status of activities in specific counties is available at https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/
Industry specific guidance for salons and barber shops:: https://files.covid19.ca.gov/pdf/guidance-hair-salons--en.pdf
Industry specific guidance for shopping centers: https://files.covid19.ca.gov/pdf/guidance-shopping-centers--en.pdf
All businesses, including those with modified operations, must continue to adhere to San Mateo County’s health order requiring social distancing and face covering (https://www.smchealth.org/health-officer-updates/order-no-c19-11-health-officer-county-san-mateo-social-distancing-guidelines) and the safety measures outlined in the appendix (https://www.smchealth.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/ho_order_c19-11_appendix_a_social_distancing_protocol_form.pdf?1592515622).
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