Outdoor Haircuts Allowed in SF Starting Today
San Francisco to Resume Outdoor Personal Services Starting September 1
Haircuts, barber services, massages, and nail services are among personal services that can resume operating outdoors
Mayor London N. Breed and Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of Public Health, announced on August 28th that outdoor personal services will resume in San Francisco, effective Tuesday, September 1, 2020.
Outdoor gyms and fitness centers can reopen starting September 9, 2020. Additionally, the Mayor and Dr. Colfax announced that once San Francisco is removed from the State’s watch list, the City’s top priorities for reopening will be the gradual opening of classrooms, services that support the development of children, and other activities that can occur outdoors.
Outdoor personal services that can operate include haircuts, barber services, massages and nail services. Only those services where both clients and providers can be masked at all times are allowed to resume. The City has posted information and guidance in multiple languages for businesses and is conducting outreach to personal services businesses to ensure they have access to the guidance and are able to prepare accordingly.
One of the barbershops opening on September 1st is Joe’s Barbershop on Market between Church and Sanchez in the Castro. They are open for outdoor backyard haircuts from 9am to 5pm every day.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH) will continue to monitor the spread of COVID-19 infection as more of the city population circulates and interacts, and will keep reviewing the City’s Key Public Health Indicators to ensure San Francisco’s gradual reopening and allowance of outdoor personal services does not drive a surge in infections and hospitalizations.
In May, Mayor Breed announced the creation of the Shared Spaces Program to support neighborhoods by providing additional public space to support local business activities. Shared Spaces allows neighborhood businesses to share a portion of the public right-of-way, such as sidewalks, full or partial streets, or other nearby public spaces like parks and plazas for neighborhood retail activity, as allowed by San Francisco’s Public Health Order. The program allows individual businesses or local merchant associations to apply for a no-cost, expedited permit to share the sidewalk or parking lane for business purposes. The City has issued 1,215 Shared Spaces permits to date.
Information and guidance for outdoor personal service is available here: https://www.sfdph.org/dph/alerts/covid-guidance/2020-23-Guidance-Outdoor-Personal-Services.pdf
In addition to Shared Spaces, San Francisco has provided financial assistance through grant and loan programs to support small businesses. Since the pandemic began, San Francisco has allocated $17.2 million to support over 1,130 small businesses.
Once San Francisco is off the State’s watch list and DPH determines it is safe to begin reopening, the City’s gradual reopening will focus on equity and safety, opening those areas with the least risk while helping those who are suffering as a result of the Stay Home Order. Schools, community hubs and after-school programs provide a critical source of support for children, youth, and their families, and helped mitigate socio-economic disparities through school meal programs and social, physical, behavioral, and mental health services. Therefore, returning children to learning environments, whether it is a classroom, a Community Hub, or after school program, remains a top priority for the City.
Since San Francisco remains on the State’s watch list, in-classroom learning can continue only for elementary schools with a waiver from DPH. To date, 53 schools have notified DPH of their desire to apply for waivers for in classroom learning. Waiver applications will be distributed next week.
Focused enrollment for the City’s Community Hubs began this week and is offered to select families based on priority population criteria, which includes HOPE SF, public housing; homeless youth; foster care youth; English language learners; low-income African American, Latino, Pacific Islander and Asian families. More information about this program can be found here.
