New York barber ‘illicitly’ giving haircuts for weeks tested positive for COVID-19 – USA TODAY

KINGSTON, N.Y. – Ulster County Health Commissioner Dr. Carol Smith is advising anyone who received a haircut at a Kingston barbershop in the past three weeks to contact their primary care physician and seek testing for coronavirus.

Smith said a barber who has been providing haircuts during that time at a barbershop on Broadway tested positive this week for COVID-19.

Neither the barber nor the shop was identified in a news release issued Wednesday by the county executive’s office.

Under the New York Pause order issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, barbershops, beauty salons, nail salons and other personal hygiene services are not allowed to be open and operated, to prevent the spread of the potentially deadly virus. The order expires on Friday.

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“We are taking extraordinary measures to try and minimize the spread of this dangerous disease,” Smith said. “Learning that a barbershop has been operating illicitly for weeks with a COVID-19 positive employee is extraordinarily disheartening.”

“As much as we would all like to go out and get a professional haircut, this kind of direct contact has the potential to dramatically spread this virus throughout our community and beyond,” Smith added.

If someone who visited the shop does not have a primary care physician, they should contact the county’s COVID-19 hotline at 845-443-8888 to arrange for a diagnostic test, Smith said.

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