SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — Barbershops and hair salons in Memphis and the rest of Shelby County will be allowed to reopen under the county mayor’s directive starting Wednesday.
The announcement comes at the same time there’s been a spike in hundreds of reported COVID-19 cases in the county, including at several nursing homes.
“In Shelby County, we need to continue to work at unity, even when it gets tricky because this is how we will reduce spread,” Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said.
Harris is calling for unity among Shelby County towns and cities as the Mid-South looks to re-open.
Some restaurants opened their doors again Monday. Harris said salons and barbershops can open Wednesday.
“Consensus is important because different rules from one community to the next will not work,” Harris said. “This virus does not recognize the boundary between Memphis and Millington or the boundary between Germantown and Collierville.”
Other close-contact businesses like nail shops and tattoo and massage parlors still supposed to stay closed.
Harris laid out 11 conditions salons and barbershops must stick to in order to conduct business.
At the same time these announcements were made, the state reported there have been 58 COVID-19 related deaths in Shelby County.
Multiple nursing homes saw a spike in cases. At least three more facilities were reported over the weekend, and the Highlands of Memphis Health and Rehabilitation Center had 36 more residents and five more staff members test positive.
{***DR. ALISA HAUSHALTER, SHELBY CO. HEALTH DEPT. DIRECTOR***}
“We’ve been doing targeted testing in a variety of the nursing homes to try and get a better sense of what we would call surveillance data, but a cross-section in time in testing those who are symptomatic and those who are asymptomatic,” Shelby County Health Department Director Dr. Alisa Haushalter said.
