California Nail Salons Plan to Sue Gov. Gavin Newsom After He Said They Were Source of Coronavirus

Governor Gavin Newsom speaking with attendees at the 2019 California Democratic Party Stat
Gage Skidmore/Flickr

California nail salons are planning to sue Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom after he said they were to blame for the first case of the coronavirus in the state.

It all started when the California governor was asked why nail salons were part of phase 3 of reopening instead of phase 2, KGO reported.

“This whole thing started in the state of California, the first community spread, in a nail salon,” Newsom said Thursday.

His remarks drew a backlash from the beauty industry in California and the Vietnamese-American community, who own most of the salons in the state.

The tension mounts even more as California is moving into its next phase of reopening, and while more businesses were allowed to reopen for curbside pickup and delivery in this next phase, nail salons were nowhere near reopening.

This brought in an association of barber shops and salons, which said it would try to sue to attempt to force the California Democrat to let them reopen sooner.

“I have dealt at a very close proximity with cashiers, with Walmart associates, with Costco and Sam’s Club associates, with a Home Depot guy who helped me cut some wood. None of them had gloves; only some of them had masks,” Fred Jones, public policy director and legal counsel for the Professional Beauty Federation of California, told KCRA.

“There’s not going to be a salon in California, when we reopen, that doesn’t have both. We are trained in this,” he said.

Some salons have already opened despite Newsom’s order. In Northern California, a line went out the door of a Yuba City salon on Wednesday. Some of the customers wore masks while others did not. Newsom said at least 33 salons operating illegally have been shut down across the state.

California entered its first phase of stage two of reopening on Friday, which allows curbside pickup at retail stores and the reopening of parks for hiking and trails.

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