SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Businesses in the South Sacramento area are bracing for yet another shutdown, which some believe could happen any day now for the Sacramento region, based on dwindling ICU bed availability numbers.
But there is hope, as the Greater Sacramento Economic Council is working on a new proposal aiming to change the way the state shuts down county-by-county.
With the tents still set up outside from when salons only had the option to work outdoors, Laura Lopez and her mom, the owner of Norma's Salon de Belleza are preparing to shut down for the third time since March, already spending three out of the past nine months in the dark.
"We weren't surprised, like I said, heartbroken for sure because lord knows how long we're going to be closed again," Lopez said.
Lopez said the primarily Spanish-speaking salon that's been in the family for 11 years now, serves somewhat of a lower-income community, with lower prices.
"We charge $15 for a basic haircut right. There will be someone else who will charge $40, who will manage their salon or be able to pay their expenses for a longer amount of time. So that's also what played into the frustration, not being able to make ends meet at one point," she said.
But the fear of not being able to make ends meet still lingers, with another looming shutdown. They say they will comply with the stay-at-home order whenever it does go into effect because they have too much at stake to break the rules.
"Because it's not just us, it's four others that depend on us here, so it's a total of six of us...it's six people, and six families. So that's what had us worried, that we would fail others," she said.
The Greater Sacramento Economic Council President and CEO Barry Broome said predictions show one in four small businesses won't survive the pandemic. Because of that, he is working on a proposal for the state to stop shutting down county-by-county, but rather by zip codes.
"I think we need to move away from county closures, move to micro clusters, closer data, you can close Yolo County, keep Davis open, close Sacramento County, maybe keep Elk Grove, Rancho, and Folsom open," Broome said.
He's hoping the idea of measuring which area to shut down in a more pinpointed fashion will help save more businesses.
"So the problem with the county shutdowns is we have big counties and some parts of our county are thriving and have very low COVID and then get shut down because they're bundled into another part of the county where maybe some super spreading events have occurred," he said.
In the meantime, Lopez is working around the clock, extending their salon's hours to squeeze in as many customers as their guidelines will allow, up until the very last minute.
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