Somerville Hair Salons Remain Closed While City Observes Phase 1 Elsewhere
SOMERVILLE (CBS) -- While hair salons in most towns and cities across Massachusetts opened Monday, they are still locked up tight in Somerville. Mayor Joseph Curtatone said he wants to take a "wait and see" approach, but that has some salon owners angry.
"We want to make sure one, whatever we do we're ensuring public health and safety first," said Curtatone.
"We're ready, we're prepared," said Lindsay Figueiredo of Lindsay Griffin + Co. "We're going have all of our visual markers in tomorrow, our plexiglass will be up. Our end goal is to make everyone is safe, and we have everything in place to make that happen."
But the mayor is standing by his decision, saying he is following how the city has always fought the virus. "We're taking the same approach that we've done since this crisis began and that's to be informed, to be deliberate, and to be guided by the science," he said.
The city has created a working group of salon owners to open a dialogue about what needs to be done to open safely but many owners say the decision to stay closed is causing them to lose clients who are driving to competition in nearby towns.
"This is a business that my mom passed down to me. She wasn't willing to sell because of how much work she put into it, so it's really sad that only Somerville won't be opening," said Fernanda Macedo of Fernanda's Beauty Salon.
Other salons say they understand the decision and want to work together with the mayor to safely open.
"For whatever reason a lot of Somerville salons have expressed to me personally that they don't have the proper equipment. And so it's really important that they do, and I think the salons that are ready should definitely lead the way," said Macedo.
Curtatone said he will be watching how the reopening process goes for other communities before making a decision about Somerville.
