BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — COVID-19 is spiking once again and another shutdown is looming now that Kern County is back on the state's monitoring list.
“I think you should be more precautious [sic] but not shut down. I mean you are hurting a lot of businesses,” Bakersfield resident Gio Alvarado said.
After three days of record-setting numbers in COVID-19 cases in the county, the Kern County Public Health Department said non-essential businesses will likely be asked to close back down again on Friday.
“I hear about it so I’m actually just going to get my nose done and what not but I am kind of disappointed,” Alvarado said.
Many Bakersfield residents like Alvarado and Elijah Colton now say they are rushing to get into their hair removal appointments and more before they can no longer access these services.
“Oh yeah, I need a nice fade right now. I mean I can’t go a long time without that being done too ya know, but also I have a lot of friends that now aren’t going to have work. So you want to go support them too. So I’m like 'ok we’ll get the brows done too,'” said Colton.
Places like the gym are also seeing an influx of people locally.
“It's very packed in the evening hours so I try to avoid that as much as I can just because there is a bunch of people there and I don’t want to catch COVID-19,” said In-Shape Gym member Amrinder Jattana.
Gym members like Jattana told 23ABC News they gained weight after gyms were initially shut down, and they are now looking to make these final days count just in case.
"It’s hard to work out at home because you don’t have the facilities or machines necessary, you know. So at this point, I am trying to be as careful as possible to get as many workouts as I can before this thing goes down.”
The Public Health Department did tell 23ABC that because we have had record-setting numbers they are expecting the state to shut the county back down, but of course, 23ABC will continue to monitor these decisions for the latest.
