You can finally get a professional haircut

Hair salons and barber shops in Sonoma County can resume indoor operations on Monday under the state’s revised health orders.

Indoor malls are included in the new order, according to Sonoma County Public Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase. Existing safety protocols, masks and distancing included, remain in effect.

Despite the good news for those with bad haircuts, Sonoma County is one of 38 counties with the worst Covid ranking under the state’s new rating system. Under the new framework, Blueprint for a Safer Economy, each county has been grouped into one of four colored tiers – Purple (Widespread), Red (Substantial), Orange (Moderate) and Yellow (Minimal) – based on the prevalence of COVID-19 is in the county and the rate of community spread.

The new state directive was announced Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. It replaces a July 13 State Order that had placed Sonoma County on the state monitoring list and prohibited activities such as indoor operations at restaurants, gyms and museums. Those restrictions will remain in place with the exception of barber shops, hair salons and malls, which will be allowed to reopen under detailed modifications.

“We feel comfortable in opening up this sector of our economy as the data show we’ve had only a handful of cases from indoor salons,” said Dr. Mase. “But we still have a ways to go before we will be able to move to the next tier and allow more activities to reopen under the state’s blueprint.”

The state’s new framework focuses primarily on two metrics: the number of new cases per 100,000 residents per day in each county, and the percentage of COVID-19 tests that come back positive. Counties must remain in each tier for a minimum of 21 days before being eligible to move to the next level.

Go to covid19.ca.gov to track where Sonoma County and other counties stand and what activities are allowed.