Los Angeles County, City to allow hair salons, barbershops to reopen indoor operations at 25% capacity

Los Angeles County officials announced that they would be allowing hair salons and barbershops to reopen indoor operations at 25% capacity, following new state guidelines allowing such operations to resume with limitations to lower the risk of coronavirus spread.

County Supervisor Janice Hahn broke the news Wednesday morning on Twitter, stating that options for increasing capacity will be re-evaluated three weeks after Labor Day.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the city will be following in the steps of the county and allowing salons and barbershops to reopen immediately at 25% capacity. 

While the state released overall guidance on Friday, individual counties are allowed to maintain tougher restrictions, should they choose to do so. 

County health officials have been hesitant to move too quickly with new business reopenings, fearing a repeat of COVID-19 increases that followed the earlier lifting of restrictions.

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Under the new state guidelines, shopping malls were also allowed to reopen with restrictions such as a 25% capacity limit but common areas and food courts must remain closed. Los Angeles County officials, however, are still not authorizing the reopening of indoor shopping malls.

RELATED: 

• LA County says hair salons, barbershops must remain closed despite Newsom's announcement

• California governor announces new, slower reopening plan amid COVID-19 pandemic

• California hair salons, barbershops allowed to reopen indoors, but not in LA County

County officials also announced that beginning on Monday, September 14, K-12 schools may offer in-school services for a small cohort of students with Individualized Education Plans, students requiring instruction for English as a Second Language or students needing assessments or specialized in-school services, as long as the school is able to fully implement the Health Officer’s reopening protocols.

"This will get children who are in the most need of in-person learning back into their classrooms," according to Public Health.

On Wednesday, the county announced another 51 deaths due to the coronavirus, raising the countywide total to 5,878. Another 1,457 cases were also reported, raising the cumulative total since the start of the pandemic to 243,935.

RELATED: Stay up to date on all coronavirus-related information

CNS contributed to this report.