Coronavirus

Black Barbers, Beauty Professionals Push Governor Newsom to Reopen Their Shops

Published

4 years ago

May 13, 2020

Two weeks ago, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp drew sharp criticisms from African Americans across the country.

Black politicians, social media commenters, and others blasted the governor, saying his decision to lift his state’s month-long stay-at-home order by first opening businesses like barbershops, nail salons, sneaker stores, tattoo parlors, gyms, and bowling alleys put the lives of Blacks at risk. Those are businesses African Americans frequent, his critics pointed out.

But unlike Georgia, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said businesses like barbershops, beauty shops and nail salons will not be allowed to begin servicing their customers again until the third phase of the Golden State’s reopening plan.

“Phase three is not a year away. It’s not six months away. It’s not even three months away. It may not even be more than a month away,” Newsom said at his daily press conference on May 8, 2020. “We just want to make sure we have a protocol in place to secure customer safety, employee safety, and allow the businesses to thrive in a way that is sustainable.”

On May 8, California started the second in a four-stage process of reopening business and public spaces shut down during the COVID-19 crisis on a category-by-category basis. Businesses in industries such as retail, manufacturing, logistics, and others that fit certain safety requirements opened then, still maintaining recommendations for wearing masks and gloves, and maintain a social distance of six feet between people.

Now, smaller businesses like salons and barbershops that require closer contact between people — and that have been hit hard in the pocket by coronavirus-related shutdowns — are calling on the California governor, state Legislature and other politicians to allow them to return to work.

The Black Small Business Association of California (BSBA) wrote letters to Sacramento Mayor Darryl Steinberg and Gov. Gavin Newsom urging them to consider allowing barbers and cosmetologists to safely resume their business.

“While we understand the need to prioritize public health and safety during this unprecedented crisis, the economic devastation of this moment cannot be overstated,” the letter read. “This loss of income is compounded by the limits of California’s safety-net services and has left too many barbers and cosmetologists without assistance during this difficult time.”

The BSBA claimed that many of the protections federal and state officials promised to small businesses did not reach barbers and cosmetologists.

“For example, many of these individuals have applied for Unemployment Insurance, but were denied,” the letter read. “Others applied for the federal Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans through the Small Business Administration and were denied access to these funds as well. In addition, few if any have received access to information about local emergency funding options when these funds have been made available.”

In addition to those letters, the BSBA, along with the Mixed Cosmetology School, several barbers and cosmetologists developed safety guidelines to serve as a model for how these specific businesses could begin reopening sooner rather than later.

Those guidelines include the implementation of personal protective gear, mandatory temperature checks, symptom questionnaires, and extensive disinfection.

Robert Brown, a barber at Another Look Hair Salon in Sacramento, highlighted some of the unique issues facing barbers and beauticians during the pandemic.

“Many African American owned salons didn’t qualify for the PPP loan because we rent booths to our stylists and barbers,” Brown said. “We didn’t have the payroll numbers to give banks to qualify.”

California joins several other states in reopening businesses after months of closures in the midst of this pandemic. But due to the size of the state, Newsom says, the reopening process has been based on the needs of different counties.

Kathryn Barger, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, detailed how Los Angeles County will cooperate with the governor’s reopening plan.

“[Los Angeles] County is in conversations with our state partners and wants to ensure any restrictions we ease are in the best interest of the health of all of our residents,” Barger said.

Dave Charles Presley Jr., a Rialto resident, and barber for 28 years had to move out of his apartment due to all of the revenue he has lost since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“It’s been an absolute nightmare,” Presley said. “I’m looking at all of these politicians with these fresh haircuts, yet our businesses are suffering. I know they didn’t cut that themselves.”

Presley also claims that he has waited for over a month to receive the unemployment benefits that he applied for after the governor issued his stay-at-home order.

Lorenzo Griffin, CEO of Laran Products, has been trying to help barbers like Presley as Laran Products only sells their merchandise directly to salons and barbershops.

Aldon Thomas Stiles

Posts by Aldon Thomas Stiles

Bay Area

Authorities Warn: There’s a COVID Surge in California

According to data estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the coronavirus in California’s wastewater has spiked for eight consecutive weeks. Hospitalizations and emergency room visits have also increased since the rise of the new subvariants. Over the last month, Los Angeles County experienced an average of 389 hospital patients per day that tested positive for the coronavirus. The FLiRT subvariants such as KP.3.1.1. Made up over 2% of coronavirus samples nationwide, an increase of more than 7% last month.

Published

3 months ago

August 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo provided by California Black Media.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

California is experiencing a COVID-19 surge this summer, experts warn, as numbers of infections increased for the third month this year.

State public health authorities attribute the summer COVID surge to more infectious subvariants that have emerged as the coronavirus evolves.

Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, stated that subvariants of COVID-19 called FLiRT increased in recent months, particularly one named KP.3.1.1 that has become the most common strain in the country.

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases expert at UC San Francisco, said that the subvariant KP.3.1.1 seems most adept at transmission.

“The subvariant is the one that people think will continue to take over, not only in the United States, but … around the world,” Chin-Hong said.

The majority of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 complained of a sore throat and a heavy cough. Risk factors that can increase the illness include age, underlying health issues, and vaccine dosage.

Health experts stated that the demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has increased in Northern California. However, people are having a hard time getting the vaccine due to the increasing number of cases.

Oakland Post

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California Black Media

Gov. Newsom and Gov. DeSantis Go Head-to-Head in Nationally Televised Debate

Conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity moderated the duel, during which the TV pundit, more than once, injected his opinion, and appeared to be providing subtle assists to DeSantis. As the debate progressed, it was clear that opinions about each topic discussed was representative of the philosophical and political chasm that divides liberal and conservative America, and a preview of campaign mudslinging that is bound to intensify as the 2024 presidential campaign ensues.

Published

11 months ago

December 10, 2023

Oakland Post

The debate between Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov. Ron DeSantis was moderated by Fox News personality Sean Hannity. California Black Media image.

By California Black Media

In an intense, 95-minute-plus televised faceoff between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Nov. 30, the men traded jabs and putdowns, defended their respective gubernatorial records, disagreed sharply on how to solve the country’s most pressing problems, and expressed clashing views on the performance of the Biden-Harris administration.

Conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity moderated the duel, during which the TV pundit, more than once, injected his opinion, and appeared to be providing subtle assists to DeSantis.

As the debate progressed, it was clear that opinions about each topic discussed was representative of the philosophical and political chasm that divides liberal and conservative America, and a preview of campaign mudslinging that is bound to intensify as the 2024 presidential campaign ensues.

“I’ll tell you why I’m here,” Newsom said. “I’m here to tell the truth about the Biden-Harris record and also compare and contrast Ron DeSantis’ record and the Republican Party’s record” with that of California.

DeSantis blasted Newsom’s management of the COVID-19 crisis and criticized Newsom for prevalent crime, homelessness and deteriorating social conditions in California cities.

“You have the freedom to defecate in public in California,” DeSantis said. “You have the freedom to pitch a tent on Sunset Boulevard. You have the freedom to create a homeless encampment under a freeway and even light it on fire. They’re not the freedoms our founding fathers envisioned.”

Newsom took a jab at DeSantis’ presidential candidacy, predicting that the Florida Governor would be endorsing GOP frontrunner Donald Trump soon.

“There’s one thing we have in common,” Newsom said. “Neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

BayCityNews

FDA Updates Approval of Pfizer Booster Vaccine for Children Under 5

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its approval Tuesday of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine, making it available to some children under age 5. Before this update, children under 5 were not eligible for COVID-19 booster shots. Instead, they received three doses of the regular vaccine.

Published

2 years ago

March 22, 2023

Oakland Post

As of December 2022, children age 4 and younger who have not been vaccinated receive the omicron variant-specific booster vaccine as the third dose in their primary vaccine series, following two doses of the original Pfizer vaccine.

By Eli Walsh
Bay City News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its approval Tuesday of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine, making it available to some children under age 5.

Before this update, children under 5 were not eligible for COVID-19 booster shots. Instead, they received three doses of the regular vaccine.

However, children in that age range who completed their initial vaccination series before December 2022 only received three doses of the original Pfizer vaccine, and are less protected against more infectious variants of the virus as a result.

FDA officials updated the vaccine’s emergency use authorization Tuesday to allow those children who only received the original Pfizer COVID vaccine to receive one dose of the bivalent booster if it has been at least two months since they completed their initial series.

Other children under age 5 are not eligible for the booster, although everyone age 5 and up is eligible for a booster.

“Currently available data show that vaccination remains the best defense against severe disease, hospitalization and death caused by COVID-19 across all age groups, and we encourage all eligible individuals to make sure that their vaccinations are up to date with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine,” said Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Clinical data has found that both the original Pfizer vaccine and the booster vaccine that targets the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are safe for everyone aged 6 months and up and effective at preventing the worst outcomes of COVID infection, including serious illness and death.

COVID vaccines are available at primary care providers, retail pharmacies and some facilities operated by local health departments.

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