Here’s how you can stay safe
The Biden administration has mandated vaccine requirements for health care workers in facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid benefits. This will go a long way to decrease COVID-19 infections in health care settings.
But what about in the health and beauty field?
Health and beauty professionals are trusted with some of our most personal needs.. Whether our hair stylist, nail technician, or massage therapist, we trust them to help us achieve our best appearance, improve our performance and enhance our mental and physical health with their skills.
But how would we feel if these professionals put our health and safety at risk by not washing their hands adequately? Maybe they’re reusing sponges, towels, or drape sheets that haven’t been sanitized? These are just some of the ways health and beauty professionals can put our well being at risk.
Fortunately, there are licensing boards to report such negligence. But what about the hazards your health and beauty professional may expose you to that are not covered under their licensing rules?
What if your massage therapist or hairdresser exposes you to COVID-19?
Even if you’ve been vaccinated yourself, you are at risk from this unvaccinated professional whether they wear a mask or not.
What if one of these professionals refuses to tell you their vaccine status?
If a health professional refuses to assure you they’ve had a vaccine, it’s a good bet they haven’t.
These individuals may balk at getting vaccinated because they fear the side effects–of which there are few given the millions of doses that have been administered. But they should also consider the effects of COVID-19, particularly the long-term effects they are risking for themselves and every single one of their clients.
If your health and beauty professional cares so little about your health, why should you continue supporting their business? Losing your business is also one of the possible side effects professionals risk if they are not vaccinated. You may have to find another place to get your nails done or another hair dresser. You may have to return to early pandemic mode when we all had shaggy hair, ragged nails, and no vaccine.
Times have changed and to survive these risky days, we have to adapt. It’s what humans have always done and why we remain at the top of the food chain. It’s not that I don’t believe the unvaccinated don’t have the right to make a living. It’s that I don’t believe they have a right to make a living at the expense of other’s health.
I think it would be great if these professionals, indeed all brick and mortar business, put a sign on their storefronts and websites bragging that all employees had been vaccinated. Sure, they might lose the business of the rabidly anti-vax population, but why would they want those customers anyway? Wouldn’t losing those customers give them further bragging rights about protecting the health of their patrons?
I don’t look for store owners to willingly do this in our divided country, but if enough people start asking about the vaccine status of their professionals, there is a better chance business owners will begin to see the issue as one they could take advantage of. At the very least, they will begin to understand how important it is to most of us not to risk our health and our families’ health.
Let the unvaccinated patronize unvaccinated service people. Those of us that are vaccinated will line up to be served by professionals who demonstrate that our health is important to them.