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With bills to pay and family to feed, shop owner vows to reopen

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  • Krys Nelson, owner of Shear Transformations in Palatka, cuts a child’s hair earlier this year and said she plans to reopen today.
    Krys Nelson, owner of Shear Transformations in Palatka, cuts a child’s hair earlier this year and said she plans to reopen today.
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Although beauty salons are not yet allowed to reopen, one Palatka hair salon owner is not letting restrictions stop her. 

Krys Nelson, who owns Shear Transformations on Ninth Street, said she is reopening today and is already booked through Saturday. 

“The government has shut us down for far too long, in my opinion,” Nelson said. “I can’t afford to sit at home.”

She said she applied for the Paycheck Protection Program, re-employment assistance and unemployment but was denied by all the programs. 

Precautions will be taken, such as asking clients to stay in their cars until it is time for their appointment, heavy sanitation and distance between each appointment, she said. 

The Palm Coast resident has owned the salon in Palatka for almost six years. Nelson said she needs to work because she has a family to feed and bills to pay. She said she is the only employee at her hair salon and feels people are more at risk shopping at grocery stores. 

“At least as a small business, one-person operation, I can vet who comes into my shop,” Nelson said. “I have more control over traffic than the larger chains like Walmart does.”

She said there is a possibility she could be shut down if she reopens, but she is prepared to hire a civil rights attorney. 

“I have rights as an American citizen,” Nelson said. “I just think this whole COVID-19 is way out of control. …There’s more people that die from the common flu than the COVID-19.”

Nelson plans to be open 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 9 a.m. – noon Saturday. 

“I feel that, in my profession, if a business owner wants to open their shop, the government should not be allowed to tell them whether they can go to work or not,” Nelson said. “It almost seems like (the government) is trying to turn us into a communist country.”

Coronavirus cases in Putnam County remained at 120 Wednesday, but testing has increased, said Mary Garcia, administrator for the Florida Department of Health in Putnam County. 

There have been 1,945 people in Putnam tested, with 1,822 cases returning negative, Garcia confirmed. Three cases were pending Wednesday.

Allison Waters-Merritt, spokeswoman for the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, said deputies have no plans to arrest anyone and the sheriff’s office is not the primary regulator of businesses reopening prematurely. 

Complaints or questions should be directed to the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation. The office can be reached at 850-487-1395. 

“An overall outlook would be to gain voluntary compliance,” Waters-Merritt said. “We would definitely take every situation one by one.”

Numerous other beauty salons around Putnam County have no immediate plans to reopen but are looking forward to the day they can once again welcome customers. 

Crystal Alexander, owner of The tHairapy Centre in Palatka, said she was cleaning her shop Wednesday to be ready when the time comes for her to reopen. 

“We are all getting calls daily just checking in on us and checking on the status of the salon,” she said. 

Salon St. Johns in Palatka also remains closed, but owner Kim Culpan said her salon will reopen when she gets the all-clear from the state. 

“I’m sure we’ll be super busy when we reopen because we’ve got lists and lists of people to call when we hear that we can reopen,” Culpan said. “(I’m) very excited, not nervous at all. (I’m) just trying to be patient.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis reopened restaurants and retail stores at 25% capacity Monday. Elective surgeries were allowed to resume, and 80 state parks reopened, including Dunns Creek State Park in Pomona Park. 

Florida’s total number of coronavirus cases was 38,002 and data from floridadisaster.org showed 1,539 deaths statewide Wednesday. Four deaths have been reported in Putnam County since the virus outbreak began, according to Garcia. 

Hair salon owners said they hope to open soon but remain in a stage of waiting. 

“We love what we do and miss our clients,” Alexander said. “We want to get back into the swing of things as soon as possible.”