Hairstylists with COVID-19 didn’t infect any clients. Face masks may be why

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(Nicoletta Lanese/ LiveScience) — Two hair stylists in Missouri interacted with a total of 140 clients and six coworkers before learning they both had COVID-19 — thankfully, the stylists didn’t pass the virus on to any of these contacts, according to a statement from the local health department.

The stylists work at a Great Clips salon in Springfield, where various safety measures were put in place to mitigate potential COVID-19 spread, according to the statement from the Springfield-Greene County Health Department.

Appointment times had been staggered to limit potential contamination between customers, and the salon chairs were placed farther apart than usual. Stylists also remained 6 feet (1.8 meters) away from clients when not cutting their hair, and the salon required that both stylists and customers wear masks during appointments, according to Great Clips customer and journalist Steve Pokin, who wrote about his experience visiting the salon in mid-May.

“I didn’t think you could cut the hair of someone wearing a mask,” he wrote in The Springfield News-Leader. “The stylist had me briefly hold my mask in place as she removed the straps and trimmed one side of my head and then the other. It’s not that hard.” (…)

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