SLO County salons, barbershops and places of worship can reopen — with restrictions
Places of worship, hair salons and barbershops can reopen with limited service and other modifications, the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department announced Tuesday.
But before businesses or places of worship open their doors once more, the county is requiring they register through an online Self-Evaluation & Certification form.
“We’re pleased to announce that our county Public Health Department has approved modified in-person religious service, and hair salon and barbershop services,” county Public Health Officer Penny Borenstein said in a news release Tuesday.
Those businesses and activities have been mostly shut down since the county implemented its shelter-at-home order in the face of the coronavirus pandemic March 19.
But it won’t be an immediate return to business as usual. The state’s guidance for religious services and cultural ceremonies urges organizations to continue to hold activities online, in order to protect individuals who are most at risk for COVID-19.
Churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship can begin in-person services and funerals with a maximum of 25% capacity or 100 attendees, whichever number is lower, the county news release said.
Religious children’s school instruction is still prohibited under the state’s order, according to the release.
Under the state’s order, hair salons and barbershops must limit services to those that can be provided with both employees and customers wearing face coverings for the entirety of the service.
The state said that services such as waxing and facials, which cannot be performed with face coverings, be suspended for now.
Businesses offering personal services, such as nail salons, spas and massage parlors, continue to be prohibited from reopening at this time, the county said.
Prior to reopening, applicable places of worship and businesses must complete and sign San Luis Obispo County’s “Ready to Reopen” COVID-19 Self-Evaluation & Certification Form for each facility.
The toolkit, signage, and reopening criteria and additional guidance documents per industry can be found at EmergencySLO.org/reopen.
San Luis Obispo County is following California’s Resilience Roadmap for reopening, in which the state determines when and how each county may reopen based on a county’s ability to meet the state’s criteria.
Counties that have met the state’s readiness criteria can open additional businesses as outlined on the California Department of Public Health’s County Variance page.
As of Tuesday, San Luis Obispo County 263 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 5:14 PM.
