Lone holdout:
Closures likely in Bay Area’s spot of openness
San Mateo County is expected to join neighbors in being forced to close hair and nail salons, other businesses.
San Mateo County businesses feel under siege. The last bastion of openness in the Bay Area during the coronavirus pandemic, San Mateo is expected to join its neighboring counties in being forced to close hair and nail salons, malls, places of worship and fitness centers on Tuesday, when the county is expected to join all others in the Bay Area on the state’s ignominious watch list, triggering automatic shutdowns of some businesses.
That means that many Bay Area residents who drive long distances to find a gym or get a haircut will be out of luck.
“So much is at stake in staying off that state watch list,” San Mateo County Manager Mike Callagy said Wednesday at a virtual news conference.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom famously called it a “dimmer switch” Monday as he ordered the statewide closure of indoor operations at restaurants, wineries, tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos, museums, cardrooms and bars.
Also on Monday, Newsom said that businesses in other sectors must close if they are in counties on the state’s watch list. Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Solano,
Sonoma, Alameda, Santa Clara and, as of Friday, San Francisco are on the list due to hospitalization or testing concerns.
That leaves only San Mateo, which spent the week trying to make the case that it should not be on the list.
“We want to make sure that we stay off that list, and it’s going to depend on the people here,” Callagy said at the news conference Wednesday. “We could thread the
needle and continue to stay off the watch list, if we do what we’re supposed to do.”
Newsom’s turn of the dimmer frustrated business operators, who detest uncertainty.
“This is not a dimmer switch for 24 Hour Fitness or any of our peers in the industry. This is an off switch,” 24 Hour Fitness CEO Tony Ueber told The Chronicle.
The San Ramonbased chain has a number of gyms open in San Mateo County; its gyms in Santa Clara County, which had reopened Monday, closed again Wednesday.
“Explain to me why a liquor store is open and a gym is not open,” Ueber said. “I don’t believe that a liquor store is going to help you with your mental and physical health, but a gym sure as hell is.”
San Mateo County health officials’ argument for staying off the list centers on the fact that, as of Thursday, 20 of San Mateo’s 59 hospitalized patients (34%) confirmed to have COVID19 are from out of the county.
Also flooding in from other counties: customers eager to find a haircut, waxing, fingernail service or gym.
Employees of a 24 Hour Fitness in Redwood City said they received hundreds of calls Tuesday asking if San Mateo County was still open amid the confusion, including from a 70yearold trying to sign up for a membership from 350 miles away. Two Oaklanders drove over to take fitness classes Wednesday morning.
Hector Lopez, who previously trained at American Barbell Clubs in San Jose, now gets his workout fix at 24 Hour Fitness in Redwood City. Angie Van doesn’t trek out of county, but she does fight traffic for up to 40 minutes to get to Redwood City from Foster City to find a preferred gym.
“I feel safer here than at home,” Van said of a gym that has cut its capacity from 654 to 151 to ensure proper distancing. Audio reminders that face coverings are required play every 15 minutes, and the gym shuts down after an hour of workouts for 30 minutes of cleaning and sanitation.
Masked and socially distanced members lined up around the block at the Broadway location for the 9:30 a.m. session Thursday, and again at 11 a.m.
Van’s teammate in a Zumba class Thursday, Penny OlivarRubas, said she has gotten creative and played pickleball in her neighbor’s driveway, but nothing replaces the camaraderie and community at a gym.
“We don’t want things to close down again, after for so long,” she said. “As long as we follow the guidelines, I hope it will be OK in San Mateo County.”
Not everyone was hopeful.
In downtown Redwood City 1½ miles from the gym, restaurants forced to return to outdooronly service used parking spots to house tables.
Salons are worried they’ll have to close soon, too. In San Mateo, the salon Les Amis was booked six weeks in advance.
“What are you going to do? It’s tough,” said Garo Kochounian, who has owned Les Amis for 10 years and reopened June 17 after a threemonth break during the shelterinplace order. “We survived three months, but you have to wonder if it’s worth it for six months. Closing businesses that have been reopened is like a double whammy.”