Coronavirus: The PM must close salons, hairdresser tells James O'Brien

23 March 2020, 15:25

By Fiona Jones

This hairdresser couldn't understand why the government hasn't closed salons, giving a perfect example of James O'Brien's point that if anything is left open people will still go.

Susan told James she has just cancelled all her hair appointments for the next month.

"What I can't understand is why they're allowing hairdressers to stay open because the close proximity of the customers... you'd just be spreading it," she said.

James responded that Susan was highlighting "in a nut shell" precisely what he perceives the problem to be: "The government is presuming that you'll just do it anyway because you're intelligent and you've read the advice and you see that that's the only logical response to the official advice.

"You're sitting there saying why haven't they shut at down? Because if they haven't shut us down then that means that we can be open, right? That's how our minds work!"

Susan pointed out that most hairdressers are self-employed so they will go into peoples' homes all in one day.

"They've got to order people to stop it because they're not going to do it themselves," said James, reflecting that while Susan may take a financial hit, she's looked at the evidence in front of her and made that sacrifice.

She's stressed people must cut their own hair and it is essential that home visit hairdressing mustn't happen.

Yesterday the Department of Health reported 48 more people have died in the UK in a single day from coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths to 281.

The latest figure means Sunday became the deadliest so far for patients with Covid-19, and puts the UK ahead of where Italy was two weeks ago.

Read more: Coronavirus live updates

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