Our CEO, Sumita Batra, was interviewed by LA Weekly to discuss why threading salons should not reopen until it is safe to do so. Ziba Beauty temporarily closed its 14 California-wide studio locations back in late March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will remain closed until safety permits otherwise.
Read the full interview transcript below, as posted on LA Weekly by Isai Rocha on June 18, 2020.
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Los Angeles County announced that it will be joining other counties in reopening recreational services such as nail salons, tattoo shops, spas, bars, wineries and casinos Friday.
Close-contact personal care services have been one of the last businesses to open, as they fell under the “higher risk” category in the reopening roadmap. additional personal care services that will be allowed to reopen include estheticians, skin care and cosmetology services; electrology, body art professionals, microblading and permanent make-up; and piercing shops.
Nail salons had been awaiting word for reopening, to the point that a lawsuit was filed against the state of California by the Professional Beauty Federation of California in an effort to reopen businesses in the beauty industry. Not all in the beauty sector are in a rush to reopen, though, as CEO of Ziba Beauty, Sumita Batra, expressed to L.A. Weekly.
The eyebrow threading industry is among the services that sees high volumes of customers in close-contact scenarios. Batra said she will hold off on reopening until at least August, as she does not feel it is responsible to do so. “As an expert who has been in this industry for 33 years and stands to lose her entire life’s work, I am telling you it is not safe to come to my industry right now,” Batra said. “I think that’s an important point for the consumer to understand. They have to be very careful about where they go and how close they get to someone when it comes to intimate-touch services.”
Public Health has said in its Health Officer Order that its reopening protocols “ensure it is done as safely as possible for employees, customers and residents.” While part of these protocols included that workers wear face coverings, Governor Gavin Newsom announced Thursday morning that all California residents are “required to wear face coverings in public spaces.”
As of Thursday, there have been 78,227 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, with 3,027 deaths. At least 11,499 of those cases consisted of people over 65 years old, while 93 percent of patients who died had underlying health conditions.