Daily Times

At the start of the year, Luis Lopez moved his barbershop to a bigger location with three more chairs and more than twice the rent. Then, when the coronavirus pandemic hit, he had to close, plunk down more cash for upgrades to health safety standards and wait for officials to allow salons to reopen.

Now, Lopez owes $10,000 in monthly rent for the coveted space in Southern California’s downtown Huntington Beach and says he can only keep paying it if he can cut hair at his Orange County Barbers Parlor. But Gov. Gavin Newsom said that isn’t allowed under new closures this week to curb soaring numbers of infections.

“With all due respect, I can’t close my doors. I just really can’t,” Lopez said. “I am going to have to shut my business if that is the case.

“People say work from home or do house calls, but people are still getting fined to do that, so what’s the difference?” he added. “If they come in and shut us down, then that’s what is going to have to happen.”

The closures hit salons in the nation´s most populous state especially hard. The industry is filled with mom-and-pop shops and independent stylists – many still struggling after a monthslong shutdown that began in March. While restaurants and retail stores are encouraged to set up on sidewalks, regulators have barred salons from moving outdoors.

That’s something Republican Assemblyman Jim Patterson and industry representatives on Thursday urged Newsom’s administration to reconsider to keep shops afloat.

Like many businesses, salons nationwide have been walloped by closures in states seeking to slow the spread of the virus. New York City only recently allowed nail salons to reopen.

Many owners feel like they’re being unfairly punished with the new California shutdown. Unlike at bars or restaurants, workers and customers at salons wear masks constantly and groups don´t typically gather. They say they have ample training on sanitizing procedures and don´t understand why they’re lumped in with other businesses.

“We were temperature checking, we were doing everything to the letter, no one was getting in without a mask,” said Ben Daidone, who has closed his Santa Monica salon.

“It reminds me of my grade school teacher punishing everybody for chewing gum when we couldn´t find out who the perpetrator was.”

The strife comes as California grapples with a rise in infections and hospitalizations after allowing many businesses to reopen and as people gather in warmer weather.

This week, Newsom shuttered bars and indoor dining throughout California and halted indoor religious services, gyms and salons in most places after virus-related hospitalizations jumped 28% in two weeks.

Many salon owners say they understand the severity of the pandemic, have followed state guidance and haven’t seen cases of viral transmission linked to their shops.

The state has received nearly 2,200 complaints of salons failing to follow sanitizing measures but hasn’t issued citations, said Cheri Gyuro, a spokeswoman for California´s Department of Consumer Affairs.

Salons can´t operate outdoors, but the state board of Barbering and Cosmetology is considering options, she said.