Visulazation of Covid-19 Occupational Risks

April 30, 2020

Dear Mr. Governor and Texas House of Representatives,

While we may live in the same, beautiful state like you, we feel worlds away. You have asked us to help you, we have. You have asked us to close our businesses, we reluctantly closed. You have asked us to stay home, we complied. You have asked us to continue to stay at home, we are. So here we are, at home, waiting as requested. We wait alongside our coworkers, family and friends, small business owners, the self-employed, and the independent contractors. Now on this day, National Hairstylist Appreciation Day, we ask of you to protect the licensed beauty professionals of Texas.

Texas, as well as the United States, is concerned with the well-being of our residents and the protection of our valued consumers. We ask to be taken into consideration as well. There seems to be a misconception or misunderstanding about our industry. We are 62% more likely to risk exposure to Covid-19 than any other industry. Ours is one of the last and few that come into physical contact with our consumers as a part of our livelihood. Social distancing procedures are near to impossible to maintain in any spa or salon setting as we are physically coming in contact with our guests.

It is our understanding that it will be requested of us to return to work soon. As much as we would love to return to our wonderful life, we have some very valid concerns before doing so. The lack of availability of tests within the state is at the top of that list. There are over forty-thousand licensed beauty professionals in the great state of Texas and well over thousands of salons and spas. Day after day and week after week the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Texas Department of Health Services (DSHS) report higher numbers of new infections than the day before. There has not been a significant reduction in new infections. Furthermore, our beauty professionals should not be forced to risk our lives for those who have not been or cannot get tested due to a lack of availability. We deserve the same right to choose as everyone else and not be punished for our convictions. We are not expendable. Let me repeat that, we are not expendable. 

The insufficient amount of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) products is another issue that has been raised. We think it unfair to compete with the very much needed health care industry for such items. PPE is in short supply to the point that hospitals are concerned about the supply for doctors and nurses. With over forty-thousand licensed professionals, where would the additional supplies come from and who will foot the cost? Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations (TDLR) requires salons to change implements between each client. However, there are doctors and nurses forced into the practice of using one mask for 1-2 weeks. This practice is unsafe and unfair. We resolve that TDLR educates us on state-mandated, proper procedures for our licensed professionals regarding the regulation of such demands in clear and concise language for usage and disposal of said PPE to limit cross-contamination to our city sanitary crews and anyone that may come in contact with used PPE implements. There is already so much required of licensed professionals by TDLR, that is it only fitting that they assist and guide us.

Our last objective is to maintain the status quo regarding unemployment availability to our licensed industry professionals should they choose to remain home once it is demanded of us to return to work. Our professionals should not be forced to return to work in such unsafe and unknown conditions. Current stipulations of unemployment are that you return to work once it has been deemed to do so. We are ready to return, believe me, but only when it’s clearly safe to do so without risking further infections. The State should be more concerned with the well-being of our professionals as well as our residents by making testing more readily available and waiting to re-open our salons and spas until the CDC, DHSH, and TDLR are on the same page, numbers have decreased, and state guidelines have been legally mandated.

Please hear our plea. Help us protect our state. All we ask is for more readily available testing, solutions to PPE and to be protected from being forced into the fire as Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina have done. We value the lives of our consumers as well as those of our licensed professionals.

Sincerely, 

Concerned licensed beauty professionals of Texas