“This whole thing started in the state of California, the first community spread, in a nail salon. I just want to remind everybody of that and that I’m very worried about that.” This statement made by Governor Gavin Newsom of California after the reopening of businesses with restrictions, during one of his daily media briefings on COVID-19 in early May 2020, was made without any factual data or evidence; when the whole world knew that the Corona Virus started in Wuhan, China. After nail salons first re-opened on June 22, 2020, with restrictions and safety measures imposed by the State Public Health Office, they struggled to bounce back due to Newsom’s flagrant statement, but he never apologized for his remark.
Less than 3 weeks later, on July 13, 2020, Dr. Angell, the then State Public Health Officer issued an order directing all salons in the State of California to again cease salon and hair care services. As a result, many salons were unable to recoup the cost of implementing the safety measures imposed.
On or around August 9, 2020, Dr. Angell supposedly resigned from her role. It’s alleged that Dr. Angell disagreed with Governor Newsom’s political ploy of shutting down California without science and instead was trying to politically damage the then United States Administration in the run-up to the 2020 Presidential election. Dr. Angell also disagreed with California’s reporting of her office’s COVID-19 data tracking following a technical glitch that caused a delay in reporting virus test results. Her replacement, Dr. Pan, implemented a statewide order that abandoned the previous re-opening plan order and dictated that counties would be classified according to a new plan entitled “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” under which a color-coded “tier” system would be used. Under this new color-coded tiered system, each California county is placed in one of four tiers: Purple, Red, Orange, and Yellow—ranging from most to least restrictive, respectively.
Unlike the previous staged reopening plan the new order does not provide any criteria under which California’s businesses and economy would be permitted to fully reopen. Under the respective tiers established, salons were required to: (1) cease indoor salon services (Purple tier); (2) limit indoor salon services capacity to 25% (Red tier); or (3) limit salon services capacity to 50% (Orange and Yellow tiers).
Specifically, the State of California did not initially include Hollywood studios in the “Essential Workers” list issued in March 2020. But a revised listing, declaring that workers involved in “the entertainment industries, studios, and other related establishments” be essential. Explicitly under the revised listing, the State Board of Barbering & Cosmetology licensed services in these Hollywood studios were allowed to perform their work, while those same licensed professionals were prevented from doing the same services in a non-Hollywood studio salon.
The Professional Beauty Federation of California filed suit in Los Angeles federal court to pressure the administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom to reopen hair and nail salons. In a press release, PBFC President Ted D. Nelson said that the beauty industry has “stood in solidarity” with California’s mission to flatten the curve and that the state has “met that noble goal.” Nelson added that an extension of the state’s shutdown is not necessary to continue to combat the pandemic and believes it will result in “devastating consequences to the livelihood and businesses of tens of thousands of California citizens. We understand that not all salons and stylists will want to reopen under the current threat of this pandemic. Nothing in our legal challenge will force anyone to act against their will. We just believe that the formal education/training of our stylists warrant our safe reopening under additional ‘social distancing’ protocols, which our State Board and industry stakeholders have been putting together for weeks.”
A day later, Newsom announced hair salons and barber shops would be allowed to reopen — but not nail salons. This didn’t make any sense to nail salon owners when hair stylists worked face-to-face with customers more, if not the same as a nail technician did. All salons; hair, barber, and nails required the same personal protective equipment and had the same guidelines enforced by the State Board of Barbering & Cosmetology, so why were nail salons being isolated?
Because nail salons had to remain closed while other salons were allowed to open, the Vietnamese community was outraged. According to the Pro Nails Assn., California was home to 11,000 nail salons, with 80% owned by Vietnamese Americans, and as reported by the California Health Nail Salon Collaborative, 69% of over 400,000 licensed manicurists are Vietnamese in California. The Vietnamese community felt they were targeted for racial discrimination. Can a Governor just say what he wants without any evidence, make remarks that are discriminatory, get immunity, and not be held responsible just because he’s in office? Would he have said this if it was towards an industry that’s majority black-owned businesses? Vietnamese Americans’ livelihoods were at stake and they were infuriated by Newsom’s words and decision-making. In August of 2021, many Vietnamese Americans wanted to recall Newsom and blamed him for their unemployment because for most of them, doing nails is all they know and it was what supported their entire family.
Although the pandemic is behind us, many salons have closed down permanently and the economy is still struggling to bounce back but one salon has not forgotten. Images Luxury Nail Lounge has not yet forgotten how Newsom damaged the Vietnamese community and nail salon businesses by making his disparaging and untrue statement and the unfair treatment of nail salon businesses. Images Luxury Nail Lounge was forced to close and reopen their 6 locations 3 times during the pandemic and lost about 125 nail technicians. Even after fully reopening, they could not recover completely and had to let go of 3 locations due to the lack of customers and technicians and may be closing down more or possibly all their locations.
Now Images Luxury Nail Lounge is suing Newsom for damages to their business due to abrupt opening and closing and the unfair treatment of nail salons under the “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” color-coded “tier” system. Newsom may have never thought that his one un-credible statement would continue to be so detrimental and continue to haunt him after all these years.
Reference Articles:
https://news.yahoo.com/californiaicles-governor-says-community-spread-022240370.html
https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/07/19/vietnamese-americans-nail-salons-california-shutdown-1300932
https://news.yahoo.com/did-coronavirus-spread-nail-salon-130000120.html
https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2020/09/coronavirus-shutdown-nail-salons/
https://www.yahoo.com/video/beauty-salons-threaten-sue-california-140530448.html
https://www.yahoo.com/video/nail-salon-coronavirus-community-spread-234658946.html
