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Baker: Forget about getting a haircut at a barbershop or salon anytime soon
By adamg on Wed, 04/22/2020 - 1:23pm
Gov. Baker declined to say today whether he will consider making barbershops and hair salons "essential" services - because he said it's time to start thinking about creating "rules of the road" that will allow such places to re-open if they take particular steps.
But just what those steps will be will take a deep investigation that he's not going to get into until after Massachusetts "gets over the hump" of the current Covid-19 surge, he said at his daily press conference.
Baker said state officials will likely take a close look at how other countries have allowed particular businesses to re-open, based on precautions unique to those businesses, once it appears Massachusetts has actually gotten past peak Covid. But he said again we're not at that point. But while he said it's time to get beyond the binary essential/non-essential dichotomy, he declined to say whether he will continue the current ban on "non-essential" businesses past the current May 4 date.
One reporter asked: What if Gov. Sununu in New Hampshire allows barbershops to re-open? Should we worry about Massachusetts residents driving to New Hampshire for a haircut?
Baker said he had a conference call with the five other New England governors yesterday. They're all trying to coordinate efforts, but each state is at a different point in the epidemic, he said. He said he would hope NH takes neighboring state conditions into consideration. He said he doesn't know what he'd do if over-haired Bay Staters started clogging 93 to cram into New Hampshire hair places.
Also today, Baker announced that the state is working with Quest Diagnostics and a number of community health centers, including several in Boston, to increase the amount of Covid-19 testing they do. Manny Lopes of the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center said the move will let his center do up to 500 tests a day. Baker added that community health centers are also being signed up for the state contact-tracing program, in which people who have had contact with a confirmed Covid-19 case will be called and advised what to do.
Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders explained why the state was seeing issues with test kits the state had sent to many nursing homes: It turns out it takes a particular skill to stick a long swab up a person's nose. She said the state is now relying on a mobile National Guard testing unit, which is trained in that, to do most nursing-home testing.
She added that one possible reason for Massachusetts nursing homes getting hid so hard is that many of our nursing homes are older, have waivers that allowed them to keep two residents in rooms. Baker said some of the hardest hit nursing homes have been some of the best run, so figuring out exactly what happened will require serious analysis of data.
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Comments
BUILD THE WALL!
Around Georgia.
When it comes to Nursing
When it comes to Nursing Homes being hit, even the good ones. It is possible that the really good ones normally have extra coverage and more employees per client/resident which is normally a big help but what if that just meant even more access for the Virus? If you interested with multiple people multiple times during the day versus one or two a few times during the day I can imagine how that would spread things. Also classes like chair yoga and music things in the common spaces.
When you think about what makes a good nursing home a good nursing home a huge chunk of it is medical attention and social attention. Where as bad nursing homes lose patients to mistakes really good ones may have lost some by just beeing "good."
I would be curious to see how the numbers played out with low scoring homes that are not social and dirty vs mediocre homes that do an ok job but do not go out of their way and highly rated very hands on nursing homes. After thinking of it I would not be shocked if the mediocre homes came out on top. Clean enough not to spread but hands off enough with their patients not to spread what is pretty much a social disease.
An exhaustive list of things
Required for a satisfactory haircut:
1) Person
2) Tools
Not required for a satisfactory haircut:
1) Commercial storefront
I haven't had my hair cut since November 2018. I might have been on the verge of one before we commenced social distancing, so, for now, I keep a split endy ponytail.
There's literally nothing stopping any of us from telephoning our salon, leaving a message, and hoping that maybe the proprietor will check the messages, maybe contact us, and maybe come to our homes to ply their trades.
I realized this in a matter of seconds...but the governor of millions of people went on camera and pontificated about the notion of people traveling en masse 30-40 miles to get their hair cut? And then he pontificates about hoping for voluntary reciprocity from the leader of another state that's another state only because some people who've been dead for multiple centuries said so?
If this doesn't prove to you how useless government really is, I don't know what to tell you at this point. He straight up admits it:
If I'm in his shoes, my response, if that was provoked by a question, would be me doing my best Peter Griffin, and saying "Oh my God, who the hell cares?"
When you make a live announcement with a signer, I expect to hear "The death rate doubled, really, stay home" or "We're getting two feet of snow" or "We have the bombing suspect cornered, don't come outside." I don't expect to hear "You can't go to the storefront to get this service, but also please don't go get that service at the storefront not too far away from you that's outside any kind of dominion that I have."
This is one of the wordier
This is one of the wordier complaints about nothing I've seen recently. Yes, you can get a haircut in your home, but most people don't and won't. Relax. To quote you quoting a cartoon, "who the hell cares?"
Will I think you are missing the point.
Whether or not the barber comes to you or people go to him, the contact (And concept) will be the same. One infected hair dresser or barber can infect hundreds of people a day and vice versa.
Evergreen title
My man is the Detroit Lions of posts about coronavirus.
Missing the point?
You're making my point. Yes, the stylist coming to my home increases the risk of spreading COVID-19. I know that, and you know that, because we watch and read news and see and hear about the people dying, and so, we've stayed home accordingly, and not tried to convene in-home hair appointments.
I don't need to bitch at government for stopping me from getting a haircut, because I'm doing that myself. So why is the head of government for Massachusetts talking about the prospective transaction at all? If I have a reason not to even invite somebody into my home to perform the task, why would I then drive 40 miles to have the task performed?
ohhh ok.
So you mean like your post was some sort of anarchist thought about why the state is even talking about the market in the first place?
Anyone else see the Italian Mayors?
Stay the Course
Baker and Walsh are doing a good job managing an incredibly difficult situation. They want to get the economy going as much as anyone, but realize that it has to be done in a way that doesn’t endanger more lives or overwhelm the hospitals’ ability to deal with critical cases. A measured approach that slowly reopens businesses and public areas where social distancing can be maintained makes the most sense, with priority given to services that people need for health and safety. Do barbershops, hair salons, and nail studios meet those criteria?
Both the Governor and the Mayor are noted for their love of growth and development, and they’re showing a great deal of strength in resisting pressures to move too quickly.
well...
I guess I will either decide if I want to look like mountain man... or Super Mario sometime this week. I was holding out.. but...
It's the logistics that make it challenging
When things reopen, people will still wear masks. You can't get a haircut with elastic straps around your head, so you the customer will not be masked. The barber BETTER be wearing a mask, but surely he'll wipe his nose or touch his face and use those fingers to snip, snip, snip all around your face.
you can definitely still get
you can definitely still get your haircut with a mask on...the straps are around your ears I assume? anyone that cuts hair even with average skills could avoid that. lol.
Thank goodness
my hubby is a retired barber & cuts his own hair (as well as mine when I want a short half shaved style, which I did now & he did last week - it's spring, hell I need fresh air on my head when I do RARELY venture out). I did inform him that none of his friends who usually come for cuts are allowed in our home at this time.
I know it’s a cliché.
But bad hair days are a first world problem.
My rich boss boasted about
My rich boss boasted about how he had his wife's hairdresser come to their house and cut and style their hair. That's great. But in poor neighborhoods where barbershops and salons are what takes up most of the storefront space on each block, it sucks that they have to suffer.
Is risking your life over a
Is risking your life over a haircut really great? Think about how many others that stylist has been around and is now touching them.
Is risking their life really
Is risking their life really great either? What if you are the asymptotic carrier?
Give me a break
If you're under 50, you have a better chance of dying in a freak scissor accident than from COVID19.
Got a cite for this?
I know a lot of people perpetuating the "only real old people get seriously ill from covid" belief, but I'm not sure the numbers bear that out. I do know that the number of confirmed cases is a lot more uniform across age cohorts than that (common and perhaps mistaken) belief would have you think.
I think in MA...
They just put out the numbers two days ago that 81 was the average age of death from Covid here, and 92% (I think) of those who died had underlying conditions.
Still probably likely someone regardless of age will die from Covid over a scissors accident though
illegal
I'll just drop this here folks
If a person who cuts hair (i.e. barber, hairdresser) is LICENSED by the state, they can (and will) lose their licenses cut hair if they are caught doing so.
I have(had) alot of hairdresser/barbers on my facepage who are reminding folks that doing so can result in your favorite person losing their license to cut hair... so don't ask.
If I were a cop
And my superior instructed me to handcuff and bring to jail a hairstylist for cutting hair, I would toss my badge in the garbage.
I pity anyone who is so desperate for money and/or dominion as to go and ultimately make that arrest.
No arrest
No arrest. A simple complaint to the licensing board would do it.
No it wouldn't
You can yank their license, but if you haven't jailed them, they're still free to cut hair.
They'd be as free as anyone
They'd be as free as anyone to apply scissors to hair, but they would not be free to get paid to do it at a barbershop or salon once things open up again so they might not see this as a good trade.
You have an... interesting understanding of social incentives.
And then...
...not be able to work thereafter.
Impactful in HP
I have long called HP in and around Logan Square Keratin Quarter. The number of barbershops, hair salons and nail/facial joints is amazing...much denser even than Back Bay. No haircuts, styling or related grooming have a terrific effect around here. Even Al, a.k.a. Elvis, is off the street.
The hippies were right again.
Haircuts? Who needs haircuts?
If we are going to live—-
—an Old Testamment plague, then why not look like an Old Testament prophet? That became my feeling when I developed symptoms on 3/28 and I couldn’t manage a razor because of the chills. My case was mercifully mild and resolved in about 7 days. Some aspects like low energy and diminished appetite lingered, but I’m now fine... and bearded.
My rich boss boasted about
My rich boss boasted about how he had his wife's hairdresser come to their house and cut and style their hair. That's great. But in poor neighborhoods where barbershops and salons are what takes up most of the storefront space on each block, it sucks that they have to suffer.
While some essentials didn’t
Make it past the closures...the Simply Bar & Bites (JP/Roslindale line) is gone for good. None of their social sites are available and the biggest of all shows that is permanently closed.
I thought it had closed....
... well before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
By the end of this y'all are
By the end of this y'all are gonna see my sorry 45 year old's head sporting a mullet.
Self care
It's not THAT hard to clip the length of the back, even if it's just you doing it. An uneven cut is better than an unsightly mullet.
Barber
Getting a men’s haircut is for people who have extra funds lying around. My wife has a electric trimmer or scissors and does he and my son for free. No wait, no $17, no tip.