WYALUSING, Pa. — It's quiet in downtown Wyalusing during the quarantine. However, people there are excited about the possibility of bringing some business back to town.
Governor Wolf's administration announced hair salons, nail parlors, pet groomers, and libraries could reopen in counties with low coronavirus cases, like Bradford County, as early as May 8.
"My hair definitely needs done, and I have been stressing about it, which is also why I'm wearing a hat today because my roots are bad," Kiah Johnson of Sugar Run said.
"It would feel great again to get a hair cut because it's starting to get long in the back and everything. And I have a lot of gray hair, so it's good to get that gone," Austin Dietz of Sugar Run said.
This map shows the counties in yellow that meet the state's benchmarks to move into what the governor is calling the "yellow phase," in which more businesses can reopen.
This does not mean the counties in yellow will reopen, but they do meet the state's requirements to do so.
Counties moving into the yellow phase need to have fewer than 50 confirmed cases per 100,000 population reported in the past two weeks. There also has to be enough testing available, safety guards, and contact tracing in place.
At this point, that includes counties like Bradford.
Jeanette Dietz is looking forward to the day she can welcome back customers to Parlor Nail Bar in Wyalusing. This past month has been a financial strain.
"It's taken a lot of my savings that I've put away to keep up with the bills that I need to keep up with for the business," Dietz said.
If the nail parlor is allowed to reopen on May 8, Dietz said she's making sure she'll be ready in time.
"I ordered face shields for pedicures, hand sanitizer, automatic soap dispensers, so I'm going and doing it," Dietz said.
She also gave the store a deep clean, replacing the fabrics on the seats, and sanitizing all of her equipment.
On top of that, Dietz said she will have Plexiglas dividers between herself and customers. One customer will be allowed in at a time. Dietz is the only employee at the nail parlor.
State officials have indicated that we may be able to learn more about what can reopen and where later this week.