For Mr. Lee, the past few months have been extremely turbulent. He was ready to open his business just as the pandemic took over the country, forcing closings.
“We opened on March 19 and closed on March 20,” he said.
Mr. Lee, who rents space from other stylists, did not charge any rent during the first months of closing. Now, he’s charging tenants just 35 percent of their rent, “just to keep the doors open for when we can get back to work.”
It was allowed to open for about five weeks, beginning in early June, but many of its clients stayed away, saying they feared another wave of coronavirus. “They were right, I guess,” he said.
The salon closed again last week, and Mr. Lee has spent his time cleaning it, tweaking the paint on the walls, and researching business loans to help him stay afloat. “I have been looking at the numbers every day, hoping to see them begin to drop,” he said.
For essential workers, many of whom are people of color who have faced the risk of the virus on a daily basis for months, the latest spike was especially concerning.
“It’s scary,” said Christina Lockyer-White, a nursing assistant at a Kern County nursing home, who watched dozens of patients and colleagues get sick in April. “No one should have to go through or see what I experienced.”
As cases increase, Lockyer-White, who said he tested negative this spring, once again worries about contracting the virus and taking it to his son. “You always wonder if a second wave can come back, because you hear they can,” Lockyer-White said Thursday during a shift break at the nursing home. “It’s always like this, make sure you don’t let your guard down.”
Tim Arango reported from Los Angeles and Sarah Mervosh from New York. Jill Cowan contributed reporting from Los Angeles.
