SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors at Friday’s emergency meeting voted unanimously to approve a Stage 2 variance application under the state’s so-called Resilience Roadmap which would allow local restaurants and barbershops/hair salons to begin expanded services.
If approved by the state, the variance would allow local restaurants to offer limited indoor/outdoor dine-in services with modifications to protect the health and safety of staff and customers. Barbershops/hair salons would also be allowed to offer limited services such as haircuts, weaves and extensions, braiding, lock maintenance, wig maintenance, hair relaxing treatments and color services.
Upon state approval, local health officers must issue orders allowing these operations to resume.
The variance application includes current epidemiologic data, information on community readiness and several plans related to Covid-19 response, including “triggers” for implementing restrictions should cases increase.
The county has been in consultation with the state during the attestation process, county officials said. Approval may take up to one week, though a response could come sooner.
While the county is aligned with the Resilience roadmap, it not may move further than the state allows. Businesses resuming operations must design worksite-specific plans, train employees and implement control measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19. No further county approvals are needed before operations resume.
For industry-specific guidance related to dine-in restaurants, visit https://covid19.ca.gov/pdf/guidance-dine-in-restaurants.pdf.
For industry-specific guidance related to babershops/hair salons, visit https://covid19.ca.gov/pdf/guidance-hair-salons.pdf. Operations that involve touching faces such as eyelash services, eyebrow waxing/threading and facials are not allowed.
