Health and Medicine
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Despite the very real threat that coronavirus continues to pose to communities across the globe, in some parts of the world the behavior of the public and even government officials is beginning to feel as if people no longer believe the pandemic to be an obstacle for day-to-day life. While videos of lockdown cuts gone catastrophically wrong do make us sympathetic towards the plight of those suffering without an in-house hairdresser, one case of a hair salon exposing people to coronavirus serves as a stark reminder that a suave barnet isn’t worth risking your life.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The two hairstylists in question, who have not been named, are believed to have exposed more than 100 customers and some colleagues to Covid-19 after going to work for a week while experiencing symptoms associated with the disease. The exposure event took place at the Great Clips salon in Missouri from 12 to 20 of May. The first hairstylist to become infected is believed to have picked up the disease while traveling and later tested positive for the disease, confirming they were able to pass on the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen.
It was later announced by the Springfield-Greene County health department that a second hairstylist at the same salon had also contracted the disease. In total, the two confirmed cases are thought to have exposed around 140 people to the disease.
“The individual and their clients were wearing face coverings,” said the Springfield-Greene county health department in a statement posted to their website. “The 56 clients potentially directly exposed will be notified by the Health Department and be offered testing.”
The incident highlights the importance of timing the reopening of shops and salons correctly as it demonstrates how even one business has the potential to infect a large number of people in just one week. In the US, there have been widespread protests against lockdown and President Donald Trump has been eager to reopen businesses across the country, though ultimately left the final decision to the individual states. While unemployment and the state of the economy is a cause of large concern for countries across the globe under lockdown, such incidents also risk the possibility of a second wave of infections that could once again bring health services to their knees.
