9/5/20 While most of the state’s businesses have been able to resume some activity, nail salons have remained largely closed under state and local health orders since the start of the pandemic. In most of the Bay Area, as well as Sacramento and Southern California, where cases remain widespread under the state’s new color-coded reopening system, nail salons are not yet allowed to reopen indoors. For many, outdoor operations aren’t an option.
About 70 percent of California’s nail salon workers are Vietnamese-American, according to a 2019 report, and the pandemic is taking a heavy toll on a small business niche that’s been shut for five months now. The report was released by the UCLA Labor Center and the nonprofit California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, which advocates for nail salons.
