LA County Hair Salons And Barbershops Can Reopen Indoors At Reduced Capacity

By Ryan Fonseca

Published Sep 2, 2020 1:51 PM

Keep up with LAist.

If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.

Los Angeles County's coronavirus task force gave one of its regular updates on the COVID-19 pandemic today. Watch above or read highlights below.

L.A. County leaders announced that hair salons and barbershops can reopen for indoor operation at 25% capacity as soon as today, pending the release of the new guidelines from the county.

Those businesses can open their doors again "provided they are in full compliance with the Health Officers' protocols," L.A. County Public Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said at today's media briefing.

Support for LAist comes from

Become a sponsor

"If your hair salon or barbershop has been operating outdoors, please continue to do so and use your 25% occupancy for those services you're not able to provide outdoors," he said.

County Supervisor Hilda Solis warned that the updated health orders could change again, depending on how seriously county residents adhere to public health guidelines over the holiday weekend.

"... we can easily be knocked off that path of recovery if we see another surge in cases after the holiday weekend, which was what happened after Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. So please continue to do your part."

BY THE NUMBERS

County officials reported 1,457 new confirmed cases of coronavirus today, bringing the total to at least 243,935 cases countywide. In total, 10,674 cases have been reported in Long Beach and 2,387 in Pasadena (those two cities operate their own health departments).

L.A. County Public Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis also reported 51 new deaths of COVID-19 patients. The total number of deaths countywide now stands at 5,878 people.

So far, 92% of those who have died had underlying health conditions, Davis said.

Davis also provided a racial breakdown of the confirmed deaths, based on information confirmed for 5,535 of the victims. According to the latest available information:

51% Latino / Latina [48.6% of county residents]
10% African American [9% of county residents]
24% White [26.1% of county residents]
15% Asian [15.4% of county residents]
Less than 1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander [0.4% of county residents]
1% identified with another race or ethnicity

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE IMPACT ON HOMELESS RESIDENTS

Support for LAist comes from

Become a sponsor

Dr. Davis took a few minutes to break down how the pandemic is affecting homeless people in L.A. County.

So far, officials have confirmed 1,589 cases among people experiencing homelessness and 160 cases among people who work at shelters. In total, 41 people experiencing homelessness and two people working at shelters have died from the virus, Davis said.

Despite a couple spikes in August, the rate of infections, hospitalizations and deaths among the county’s homeless population have not become the “grave concerns” health officials initially projected, Davis explained.

“They were unable to just stay at home as we advise everyone to do in March. They often live in encampments or in shelters that make it difficult to maintain physical distance, and they're at higher risk of poor health outcomes due to underlying health conditions… due in part to the partners that we've worked with or that have worked together to prevent and control outbreaks among this group of residents, these fears — up to this point — have not come to fruition.”

Davis presented case and death data by ethnicity, which showed the highest rate of cases and deaths among Hispanic and/or Latino residents experiencing homelessness. A breakdown by gender showed that homeless men have a mortality rate nearly double that of women.

Davis noted that sometimes it can be difficult to confirm the housing status of COVID-19 victims, but said officials are working to “slow down the data… to more accurately understand if a death that we do see was actually a person who was experiencing homelessness.”

MORE ON CORONAVIRUS AND OUR NEW REALITY:

Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter. To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now.