WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. — A Webster Groves hair salon has reopened after an employee tested positive for COVID-19, and the owner credits masks and disinfecting policies for preventing anyone else from getting sick.
Just over two weeks ago, the owner of The Boulevard got a call from an employee who tested positive.
"Right away we shut down the salon. I want to say all the stylists and all the clients were out within 45 minutes,” owner Abby Culleton said.
Since then, all 64 employees have tested negative, and no customer has gotten sick either, Culleton said.
"Everyone's really excited to be back in the salon,” she said.
The salon has been operating at a quarter capacity – down from an eighth earlier in the pandemic. They sanitize high-touch surfaces every 20 minutes, they've installed partitions between each station and a UV disinfectant system.
And everyone is required to wear a mask.
"We just had a little 2-year-old in the salon the other day, cute as can be, and he wore a mask -- didn't complain about it, didn't take it off. And if he can do it, we all can do it. So first and foremost, everyone can wear a mask. I believe it's saving lives," Culleton said.
She said her salon is evidence those safety precautions work.
"We are kind of happy that this happened to us so now we know,” she said.
Their reopening comes as the CDC published a study this week on a Great Clips in Springfield, Missouri, where two stylists had coronavirus but wore masks. It appears they infected none of their nearly 140 clients.
"The idea of a salon having an outbreak of COVID -- it's like everyone becomes a leper. 'Oh, no. We can't go there because there's COVID.' And that's not the truth,” Culleton said.
Culleton said, as a cancer survivor, she understands the fear and the need to make the space as safe as possible.
"The biggest thing out of all of this is just to look out for others,” she said.
And that goes both ways. She said anyone who’s been tested and is awaiting results should stay home and not try to squeeze in a hair appointment until they know they’re negative.
The employee who tested positive is doing well and had only mild symptoms, Culleton sad.
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