Two Stylists with COVID-19 Saw 140 Clients; To Date No Cases Have Been Linked

According to a recent CNN article, there is some good news that the safety precautions salons are striving so diligently to keep in place as they reopen is as effective as planned. Two stylists working in a salon in Springfield, Missouri, saw 140 clients last month while they were symptomatic with coronavirus. To date, no new cases of the disease have been linked to the stylists.

Not only did all of the stylists and the clients at the salon wear masks, the salon also practiced social distancing in the spacing of its stations as well as through staggered appointments, according to the Springfield-Green County Health Department. One of the stylists had worked with 56 clients at the salon, while the second one had seen 84.

Of the 140 clients and seven co-workers potentially exposed, 46 took tests that came back negative. All the others were quarantined for the duration of the coronavirus incubation period. That 14-day incubation period has now passed and no cases were lined to the salon beyond the original two.

The health department contacted all of the clients and staff who did not get tested twice a day, checking on any potential symptoms. Because the salon kept impeccable records, it was possible for the health department to track all those exposed.

The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that about a third of coronavirus infections are asymptomatic, so it is possible some of the people may have been infected but not tested due to a lack of symptoms. Nevertheless, county health officials called the salon outcome encouraging, and they are using the case as a way to get additional insight about the disease.