'We're back to square one': Gyms, nail and hair salons forced to close 48-hrs after reopening in Santa Clara County

ByAmanda del Castillo KGO logo

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

'We're back to square one': Gyms, nail and hair salons forced to close 48-hrs after reopening in Santa Clara County

On the same day gyms, and nail and hair salons were able to reopen to customers across Santa Clara County, those small business owners got the news, they'd once again have to close.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- On the same day gyms, and nail and hair salons were able to reopen to customers across Santa Clara County, those small business owners got the news, they'd once again have to close.

COVID-19 has put many on an emotional and financial roller coaster that no one was prepared for.

"We're back to square one. We're left out here," Blossom Nail Spa owner, Linda Do said through tears. "One minute you can open, one minute you can't. Then you can, and now you can't again. It's just like back and forth, back and forth. It's so hard."

Every peak and pit has put the future of Linda Do's business in jeopardy, and has impacted the livelihoods of her and her employees.

"Is this happening again? It took us four months to get here," Do continued. "So I don't know how we're going to get out of here at the rate that we're at."

Do planned to officially reopen her South Bay business on Wednesday.

As it stands, the county is not on the state's public coronavirus watch list. However, County Public Health leaders said the county has been monitored since Sunday.

Officials expect to be added to that list on Wednesday.

According to a release by the Public Health Department: "The State confirmed this afternoon that it will require sectors closed for indoor operations in counties on the monitoring list to close in Santa Clara County effective Wednesday, July 15, 2020 at 12:01 a.m."

Effective first thing on the 15th:

- worship services
- fitness centers
- offices in nonessential sectors
- nail salons and tattoo parlors
- hair salons, barbershops
- and shopping malls are being ordered to close

ABC7 News visited with businesses finally able to reopen, on Monday morning. The breaking news update regarding orders to close was received shortly after 4:30 p.m.

"What is this going to be another 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 months," Neal Maddox, owner of X-treme Athletics asked ABC7 News. "I mean, before you know it's going be a year. I have bills. We have to pay our rent."

INTERACTIVE MAP: Here's what's open, closed in the San Francisco Bay Area

Maddox was getting ready to reopen next Monday.

"I was going to open up next week. I was going to wait until the 20th because my people mean that much to me," he explained. "I wanted to make sure I paid attention to what was going on with the trends. I wanted to make sure that everything was set up perfectly for them, to make sure that their health was priority number one."

Now, 48-hours after a four-month shut down, Maddox is still trying to make sense of it all.

"I don't want to look for another career," he said. "If they don't ever let me be a personal trainer and coach people- this is what I love."

The county release also stated, "We wanted to share this information with businesses and residents as soon as possible."

However, business owners say there's no preparing for the unknown.

"Nothing's guaranteed. You know, you can open tomorrow, but then by the end of the day, you might have to close again," Do said. "I don't even know how to process it. I have no words, really."

As of Monday, Santa Clara County ranked second among the 10 Bay Area counties. Data provided by the county showed more than 6,500 cases on Monday. It reported 167 COVID-related deaths.

To read the county's full release, click here.

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