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Smiling woman having haircut in salon

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While Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has lifted a few restrictions in 24 counties in his state; hair salons, barbershops, nail salons and gyms will not be part of the first phase of non-essential business reopenings.

According to WPVI, during a press briefing over the weekend, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine explained their decision to keep these industries closed for the meantime

“This is a virus that’s transmitted through respiratory droplets and through the air and then on surfaces where those respiratory droplets might lie. Even if people are wearing a mask – we’ve always said my mask protects you and your mask protects me and the community can be protected – it’s not percent,” Levine said.

“And if you’re with someone in close contact for a period of time, probably more than 10 minutes or more, than this virus can be transmitted.”

While therapists and other businesses that allow for 6-feet apart, Levine stressed that she and the governor aren’t trying to financially punish hairstylists or barbers; this is about everyone’s safety.

“The governor and I have spoken about the challenges that have faced Pennsylvanians who have had to stay home, who aren’t working. It’s very challenging and economically challenging,” she said, adding, “However we are dealing with an extremely contagious virus and a very dangerous virus and a global pandemic so we have to take care of the public safety.”

While in Florida has been in the spotlight for how its Gov. DeSantis has quickly reopened beaches and didn’t put on his face mask properly, to some surprise, hair salons and similar businesses are staying closed too.

CBS 13 reported that during a roundtable on Saturday in Orlando, DeSantis, who was joined by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, local stylists and barbers, said that he wants to get this done right.

“Throughout this whole time, I’ve said I’d rather get it right than get it fast,” DeSantis said, adding, “It doesn’t mean we’re going to sit on our hands. But we just want to be very thorough about how we’re doing it.”

The stylists and workers that attended the roundtable, gave the governor a list of precautions they plan on taking when they reopen.

“The cosmetologists said they will limit the number of customers inside their shop and try to schedule exclusive times to see clients who are the most vulnerable to COVID-19, such as older adults and individuals with pre-existing medical conditions. The shop owners said they’ve already removed items that can be touched, such as candy jars, will advise customers not to handle display products and will upgrade sanitation practices for tools and work stations,” CBS 13 noted. 

BEAUTIES: Do you believe that hair salons and barbershops can open up now and still be safe?

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Pennsylvania Not Reopening Hair Salons Yet: ‘Masks Don’t Protect You 100 Percent’  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com