California Nail Salons Once Again Allowed To Operate Indoors
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Nail salons in California get the go-ahead for indoor operations. Salon employees and customers we talked to said it's about time.
"I am very happy and very excited," said Tina Nguyen, who runs Stone Nails and is glad to finally have something set in stone.
"Today I have a lot of customers calling because today we book inside!" she said with a smile.
California's on-again-off-again reopening plan for nail salons has made staying in business no easy feat. She adapted her Arden business when outdoor operations were allowed last month but it was a misstep, in her opinion.
"When we go outside we don't have enough customers, because old people cannot handle the hot and wind," said Nguyen.
READ: Huge Relief For Nail Salon Workers As State Gives Green Light To Reopen Indoors
Victoria Thomas agrees.
"I never went out—too hot and too smoky," she said.
Longtime clients Victoria Thomas and her daughter Keri were some of the first in the door
"I'm happy to be back," said Thomas after the state approved indoor operations for nail salons with modified health and safety protocols.
"I've been in desperate need," she joked. "I've been doing it myself — and not very well."
New protocols are things like sanitizer, gloves, masks for employees and customers, and plastic barriers everywhere where customers and employees interact. It's all worth it says a mother of two who needed a break.
"You just have someone massaging your feet and taking care of you. It feels nice -- especially in a time when we are all a little bit isolated," she said.
But the Sacramento County health department says not so fast. It paints a different picture. A rep says the county has yet to issue a revised local public health order changing the allowed operations from outdoor to indoor but anticipates it will do so soon.
Nguyen says she consulted with the state board before reopening indoors and is putting one foot in front of the other, anxious to get back to work.
"I have to work to pay rent," she said.
It's just another example of the confusion after the coronavirus.
Some other counties in this area like Placer County were already in the red tier so nail salons have been allowed to operate indoors since September 8.