As Good As It Gets
April 29th, 2023
As of April 29th, 2023 we are dropping the mask mandate at Jason'Salon. You are more than welcome to continue masking, if you do we will wear one too. If we do not put one on please remind us, we honestly have just forgotten. Jason'Salon has erred on the side of caution throughout the pandemic. At this point it's estimated that most folks have had COVID-19 at least once. I know that many of my clients as well as myself and immediate family remain, at least as far as we know, NOVIDS. (not having had COVID) I attribute this to caution, vaccination, masks, and a healthy amount of luck and privilege. At this point in the pandemic I don't see any improvements on the horizon. It's looking more and more like the flu with nastier and longer term possible consequences. My wife and I have begun venturing out into the world again. In April, Kim traveled to Portugal to attend a week long horse training camp. (yes she was one of the few on the plane wearing a mask!) At the end of April we both ventured to Maui for a wonderful tropical snorkeling vacation. (yes we were two of the few mask wearers on that plane) As we look around we have decided that for now this is about as good as it gets. We have been asking how we want to live the next few years. I have decided that I do not want to wear a mask with my clients 40 hours a week and would like to start taking in person yoga classes again. Kim has decided she wants to take more trips. Kim's mother and sister want to go back to the gym. We are opening up but we are still avoiding crowds i.e. busy restaurants or concerts. Long COVID is still my biggest fear. I personally know at least four people who are still suffering 6 to 30 months after contracting the disease. I'm looking at COVID like getting into a car. Yes this could kill me or alter my life but I'm willing to risk it for the pleasures that life has to offer. I also will not drive recklessly and will do my best to protect those around me. Be sure to get boosted, if you are 50 or older get your shingles shots!
May 8, 2022,
As of May 10th We are asking everyone to please wear masks again. This is based on the rising numbers of COVID cases in the bi-weekly report by The Oregon Health Authority. As expected the numbers are rising but what we did not expect was for Benton County to be number one. See page 8 of the attached report. https://www.oregon.gov/oha/covid19/Documents/DataReports/Weekly-Data-COVID-19-Report-2022-05-20-FINAL.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery .
If it feels like everyone you know has had COVID it's because over 60% of the US population has had it. We realize that it is only a matter of time before most of us get COVID. Still we are doing what we can to avoid it, along with protecting our vulnerable clients and loved ones. I for one would like to avoid having to take one to two weeks off of work, and thereby having to cancel all of those appointments.
Again, If you are running a fever, are short of breath, have a cough or you couldn’t smell or taste your breakfast let’s reschedule.
As Seth Myers says… Stay Safe, We love you, get vaccinated! and boosted, and boosted!
April 2022,
As of April 18th we are lifting the mask mandate at Jason'Salon for vaccinated (boosted) individuals. As I have said before this is more than likely a temporary lift. It's become a cliche to say that we may be done with COVID but COVID is not done with us! For now let's enjoy seeing each others faces and getting out a bit into the world. On a personal level I'm still avoiding eating in restaurants or working out inside with lots of heavy breathing people. We are all navigating this new normal in different ways. Some are jumping right back into the things they used to do, and some are still staying far away from people not in their pod. At Jason's we wish to make all feel at ease. If you are still masking in public we will wear a mask with you. If you come in and see others masked we request that you either wait outside or don a mask yourself. We currently have three portable HEPA filters in the salon which have been shown to help slow the spread of the virus. Our favorite and reasonably priced so far is this 5300-2 model by Winix. Fairly quiet up to level 3 and moves a lot of air. The four stage filter seems to improve filter life as well. https://www.winixamerica.com/product/5300-2/ originally bought on Amazon but no longer seems to be there. One of Jason's clients had an issue with hers not working after a little over a year, called customer service to trouble shoot and they sent her a new one.
If you are running a fever, are short of breath, have a cough or you couldn’t smell or taste your breakfast let’s reschedule.
As Seth Myers says… Stay Safe, We love you, get vaccinated! and boosted, and boosted!
February 2022,
Still wearing masks!
Looks like Oregon will be (temporarily) lifting the mask mandate at the end of March 2022. I say temporarily because if we have learned one thing from COVID 19 it’s that we can’t trust COVID-19. Summer 2021 things were looking really good, felt like by Fall we would be back to some form of normal. Then Delta hit us as vaccination hesitancy was growing. Just when we were feeling like Delta was moving on we were hit with Omicron. Way more virulent than Delta and it busted through the vaccinated and boosted. I have had more cancellations in the last month from COVID, then I have had over the last two years. The vaccines did what they were designed to do however and kept people out of the hospitals. Unfortunately hospitals filled up with unvaccinated COVID patients stressing a medical system that has not had a break in two years. So I see the lifting of the mask mandate at the end of March as temporary until the next wave of COVID tells us to mask up again.
As Omicron came on line I was impressed to see the majority of my clientele switch from their
very cool homemade masks as well as the disposable procedural masks to KN95s and KF94s. You all must have read the same articles I was reading.
Early on in December 2021 Omicron was predicted to peak around the end of January 2022. I figured by March or April things would be looking pretty good for a bit, this would be the time to travel and see the people we’ve been wanting to see. My recommendation, do it then, don’t wait hoping things will be even better by Summer. Jump in before the next wave hits! Remember, don’t trust COVID!
Will we be able to go maskless at Jason’Salon by April if the mask mandate is lifted? More than likely, maybe not right away. Although I feel Oregon has done a great job of following the science around COVID I feel that personal comfort level still needs to be balanced. Again for the foreseeable future, mask mandate or not, If you feel more comfortable in the salon with a mask I will also wear a mask.
Will We need to be vaccinated to go maskless at Jason’Salon? For the foreseeable future I will require proof of current vaccination to go maskless. Again this assumes mask mandate and my comfort level allows it in April.
If you are running a fever, are short of breath, have a cough or you couldn’t smell or taste your breakfast let’s reschedule.
As Seth Myers says… Stay Safe, We love you, get vaccinated!
July 30th, 2021
DELTA
Six...Six glorious weeks of mostly mask free doing of your hairs! What a pleasure to see all of you for the first time in over a year, and some for the very first time. I was wondering today why one of my guests looked different and she pointed out that she wasn’t
wearing a mask! Guests I have met only in the pandemic have accused me of growing my 7 year beard over COVID. “Nope, you’ve just never seen the lower half of my face.” I remind them. Yes the ability to breath freely. Glasses not fogging up. Mask ear loops not getting in the way of cutting and coloring...Ahhh yes, those were the days, this last six glorious weeks. And now we have DELTA...the less fun form of COVID-19
As many of you know the DELTA variant of COVID-19 is extremely contagious. The CDC is comparing it to the transmissibility of chicken pox. While earlier forms of COVID did not have many breakthrough cases DELTA seems very good at infecting vaccinated people. For more on this from The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/07/delta-transmission-vaccines/619615/vaccines/619615/ As most of you are aware, if you are vaccinated you will most likely not end up in the hospital or dead from it. However many of you are like me and are close to someone that is not vaccinated (child perhaps) or you live with or are close to an older relative or someone that is immunocompromised. For me those people are my mother, my mother in law, my sister in law...and many of my clients.
All of this is to say as per CDC guidance we are back to wearing masks (ear hoop style, non adjustable) at Jason’Salon. Remember we are not only protecting ourselves we are also protecting each other. We are also asking that you wait outside until your provider is ready for you. We will be extending the down time between clients in order to minimize the over lapping of air! I continue to use a HEPA air filter with a UV light at my station as well as a fan. Weather permitting I keep the windows cracked. We also benefit from Jason’Salon being an older and slightly drafty building. I will not be sending out COVID symptom questionnaires the day before your appointment as I did in the past. However if you are running a fever, are short of breath, have a cough or you couldn’t smell or taste your breakfast let’s reschedule.
Over the past Six weeks I have been very stringent in regards to asking to see peoples vaccination cards before performing services maskless, even those I was positive were vaccinated, as we had spoken of our vaccination adventures over the last six months. 99% percent of you were not only vaccinated but were thrilled to show me your cards! THANK YOU, Thank you for showing me your cards and thank you for getting vaccinated.
Stay Safe,
Jason