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Confusion and conflict inside Shelby County before ‘Back to Business’ phase one starts

Hair salons and barber shops reopening timeline source of that confusion

SHELBY COUNTY, Tennessee —

Confusion continues, over whether Shelby County suburbs can break from the jointly agreed to Back to Business plan. Those in Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s offices said they can’t but suburban leaders thought they could.

“Before anyone jumps the gun, I think they need to see what is issued by the health department,” Shelby County Health Director Dr. Alisa Haushalter said.

That’s the message to Shelby County suburban leaders, after they weighed whether they could go around the jointly agreed Back to Business plan and reopen salons and barber shops next Wednesday.

“We have not granted approval for hair salons or barber shops or any of the aforementioned to open,” Dr. Haushalter said.

Suburban leaders gave notice that salons could open in their communities next week, in part because a local health directive hadn’t been renewed and because Gov. Lee allowed such businesses to open next week in surrounding counties. But Friday - a Gov. Lee spokesperson said salons cannot open in Shelby County then and must follow the local ‘Back to Business’ plan.

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“We are assuring as much as we can that there is consensus and agreement across municipalities,” Dr. Haushalter said.

As it stands now, the earliest salons can open in Memphis and across Shelby County would be during phase two of the gradual reopening, no earlier than the week of May 18th.

“Our input has been in alignment with the rest of the group, so I encourage people go back to the back to business plan and adhere to the back to business plan,” Dr. Haushalter said.

Gov. Lee did recommend places of worship can operate at 50% capacity, with social distancing.

A city of Memphis spokesperson said it appears the governor’s rule overrides the local phase one restriction at 25% capacity and Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland urged clergy to continue to hold services virtually.

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