Coronavirus Update: It Could Be Months Before You Can Get A Haircut Again In California
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — It could be months, not weeks, before people can get their haircut again in California.
California's public health director laid out on Tuesday the four stages the state will go through in reopening amid the coronavirus crisis. Gov. Gavin Newsom noted that while the state is flattening the curve, COVID-19 remains as dangerous as ever.
"We're still by no stretch of the imagination out of the woods there. It's just stable," Newsom said at this daily press conference on Tuesday.
Still, with the numbers stabilizing, officials have started to detail how California will reopen.
The state is currently in Stage 1 of the reopening process, where officials are ordering people to stay home and flatten the curve so that testing, PPE and hospital capacity can be built. In this phase, only essential workplaces are open.
WATCH: California's Public Health Director Talks About How California Reopens Amid The Coronavirus
Stage 2 will be where lower risk workplaces gradually reopen - with adaptations that lessen exposure risks. The workplaces and businesses that can reopen in this phase include retail, manufacturing and offices where telecommuting isn't possible. This phase is the one where Newsom said California is just weeks, not months away from reaching.
Flipping his wording around, Newsom and public health officials cautioned that Stages 3 and 4 are months - not weeks - away.
In Stage 3, higher risk environments will be allowed to gradually reopen with limits. These businesses include hair salons, gyms, movie theaters, sports (without live audiences) and in-person religious services.
Stage 4 will be the end of the stay-at-home order where mass gatherings like concerts, live sports and conventions will be allowed to continue.
However, health officials caution that Stage 4 will only happen once therapeutics for the coronavirus have been developed.
Newsom stressed that the decision making behind moving California between the stages will be guided by facts and science, not politics.
