But other businesses remained closed, like Sabrina Watkins’ salon in College Park, an Atlanta suburb. She won’t return to work until she feels safe, she said, even though customers called asking if they could get their hair done Friday.
“I said, ‘No, absolutely not. Get your hair done for what?'” Watkins said. “There’s a pandemic, people are dying. As much as I love the business, now is not the time, regardless of who says it is.”
The governor’s decision pits him against mayors from cities such as Atlanta, Augusta and Savannah, as well as advice rooted in a data model often cited by the White House.
Bottoms said Friday morning that she expects some people will not heed pleas for social distancing.
“They will go into hair salons and go and get manicures and pedicures as if it’s business as usual,” Bottoms told CNN’s John Berman. “And then what I expect is that in a couple of weeks we will see our numbers continue to rise in this state.”
“Nothing has changed,” she said, urging residents of her city to stay home. “People are still getting infected. People are still dying.”
Business owners conflicted over reopening
Those small business owners who have opened are struggling to figure out how best to protect themselves, their employees and their customers from the coronavirus.
Businesses that reopen must follow social distancing guidelines, maintain sanitation and screen their employees for symptoms such as fever and respiratory illness, Kemp said. Theaters and dine-in restaurants will be allowed to reopen Monday — even with a statewide shelter-in-place order that expires at the end of the month.
Tim Timmons, owner of Salon Gloss, said when customers arrive they have their temperatures taken and they’re asked about whether they’ve had contact with anyone who’s had the coronavirus or if they’ve traveled to heavily impacted places.
During shampoos, their faces are covered by a towel, he said. After checking out, customers are asked to discard their masks and gloves in a trash bin outside the salon.
But it will be hard for some businesses to maintain appropriate distance. Savannah Stafford is opening her salon in Savannah, but she conceded maintaining 6 feet of distance is not possible between a hair stylist and a client.
“You can kind of distance between the next two people throughout the salon,” Stafford said Friday, “but it’s going to be difficult because we’re so hands on.”
Lester Crowell decided to open his salon in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta with half his staff. Next week, he plans to go back to normal hours with a full staff.
“I definitely have hesitation,” Crowell said. “I’m anxious, I’m scared, I’m excited all at once. I’m just trying to rely on the advice of our local government.”
Before the outbreak, Watkins saw about 10 clients daily at the work space she shares with five stylists — an arrangement she said raises the risk of exposure. Some of her clients are elderly and more vulnerable to infections.
“None of us are being tested; how do we track who’s carrying it, who is giving it to whom? I don’t want to take part in spreading the disease and risking their lives,” she said. “Staying home gives us a greater chance until the numbers go down as far as infections and the death toll.”
The head of the Georgia State Board of Cosmetology and Barbers, Kay Kendrick, has applauded the governor’s move, pointing out that most of the 95,000 licensees under the board are independent contractors who don’t have another source of income.
One of the owners of Southern Lanes Bowling Alley in Douglasville, 20 miles west of Atlanta, told CNN he was happy to open but also sensitive to the public’s concerns.
“We’re not trying to hurt anybody,” Randy Hicks said. “Look, we just want to get a business going. We have 25 employees that support families out of this bowling center, so we’re trying to get them back to work also.”
Another owner, Deborah Holland, said she was a lung cancer survivor and aware of cleanliness. “I don’t want to have to go to the hospital with this virus or anything. I’m missing half a lung.”
Customers are asked to clean their hands and have their temperatures checked before entering. The alley normally sanitizes the bowling balls and rental shoes, but Holland said they’re requiring customers to place the borrowed bowling balls in one area to be sanitized before being used by someone else.
Dustin Schmidt, owner of Electric Ink Tattoo in Woodstock, decided to open because he needed to pay his bills, he said.
To keep customers safe, only one person is allowed inside at a time and tattoo artists will wear masks, Schmidt said. They’re also cleaning the shop, he said, but that’s something they do anyway.
But only one of his tattoo artists returned to work. The others, he said, are scared.
Nikolas Long, the employee who returned, said he was a little nervous to be back at work. “But I’m excited to make some money. I’ve been broke about a month-and-a-half.”
‘I was 100% ready,’ customer says
Some customers were glad to see businesses reopening, including Leon Perpignan, who was in line at the bowling alley in Douglasville 10 minutes before it opened at noon. Typically, he bowls four times a week, he said. About a dozen bowlers were there shortly after opening.
“I know a lot of people disagree and say they should have waited,” he said, “but I was 100% ready (for this).”
If people are worried they should stay home, Perpignan said, adding, “No one’s forcing you to come out.”
“Besides,” he added, “all my ‘honey-do’ lists are done.”
Jerry Robinson showed up Friday at Salon Gloss. He’s a regular customer and normally visits every three weeks. But Friday, it had been two months since his last haircut.
“No fear for me,” he said, asked if he had any concerns. “We have to live and take risk. Life is a little bit of a risk.”
In Martinez, Georgia, gym owner Greg Smith said he wanted to reopen for his customers who are worried about heart disease, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. To keep customers safe, the gym is spacing its equipment 10 feet apart and checking temperatures as clients arrive.
“We believe what we’re offering today and getting our clients started back is going to be as safe as possible,” Smith said.
Meantime, some national gym chains have indicated they will not reopen, even with a green light from the governor.
In an email to members, LA Fitness said it would not reopen “while we seek a greater consensus between the federal, state and local authorities on the proper path forward.”
Until then, the company is working to space equipment according to social distancing guidelines and reducing capacity by about 30%, the email said, in addition to new cleaning protocols.
SoulCycle studios in Georgia also was staying closed Friday, according to Harvey Spevak, the executive chairman of Equinox Group, which owns chains like SoulCycle and Pure Yoga in addition to its health clubs.
The company’s reopening plans will vary by state and local area, Spevak told CNN, based on guidance from officials. The company is implementing precautions like new cleaning technology and consulting infectious disease experts on its plans to reopen.
Kemp’s move criticized as other states take similar steps
“I told the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, that I disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities,” Trump said. “But, at the same time, he must do what he thinks is right.”
Alaska will also allow salons and restaurants to open in many areas, though restaurants must keep distance between tables and can’t exceed 25% of their normal capacity.
In South Carolina, GOP Gov. Henry McMaster announced some stores could reopen at 20% capacity along with beaches.
Mayor Stephen Benjamin of Columbia accused McMaster of using “arbitrary dates” instead of data to decide on reopening, while Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg said the governor’s reopening plan was “a measured response” that took safety and social distancing into account.
CNN’s Kevin Conlon, Martin Savidge, Lindsay Benson, Alta Spells, Nicole Chavez and Eric Levenson contributed to this report