New Shutdown Orders Put Otay Mesa Business Owners 'Weeks' From Closing Permanently

Speaker 1: 00:00 Newly diagnosed COVID cases in San Diego continue at their highest level. Since the pandemic began, nearly 2000 cases were reported on Monday with 50 new hospitalizations. It's these soaring rates of infection that state officials are hoping the new stay at home order will help bring down, but the business shutdowns will have consequences of their own as business owners and their employees struggled to stay a float for at least the next three weeks. Joining me is Mario Gastelum owner of Christina Herrera hair salon in OTI Mesa. His business was shut down in the spring. Now it's closed again, and he's experienced both sides of the pandemic. Some of his family members have come down with a virus. So Mario, thank you so much for Speaker 2: 00:47 No, my pleasure. Thank you for having me. Speaker 1: 00:49 Are you getting the hair salon back up on its feet before this new lockdown was announced? Speaker 2: 00:54 Oh yeah, it was back up on a seat and thriving really, if I say so myself, my wife is a, a, an excellent hairdresser and, uh, she's, uh, she's a cosmetology instructor or over 20 years now. And, uh, we were doing really good. I mean, we've been in business. Uh, we opened up this salon, um, in, uh, because we've had a salon before, but anyways, we've opened up the salon since September 24th of 2019. And we started, uh, slow. I can't even say this, but, uh, we were hitting our stride in March and we got shut down and we survived that there. I did have to sell a car to get it going again, but, uh, we were hitting our stride again. Hello. Here we go again. Speaker 1: 01:48 How would you describe this year? I mean, what has this year of back and forth opening and closing been like for you? Speaker 2: 01:53 Jimmy found, described it last night. It's hard to be a one year that feels like it's been 30. You know, it's how I think that's how I describe it as the longest year ever. Just stepping down emotionally, uh, financially now, you know, it's hitting me, it's hitting you everywhere. You don't know what look that comes. It's coming from every side, Speaker 1: 02:15 Lots of businesses got a payroll protection funds because they had employees. Now I understand the hairdressers who rent chairs at your salon are not employees. So was there any funding either from the city of San Diego or the County that you were eligible? Speaker 2: 02:32 I applied and since I didn't have any employees, I was arguing for a thousand dollars. It takes $4,000 from you to run this a lot. I mean, I figured that out without much expensive, without running too much, you know, without having to, uh, have the lights on for a long time, I guess, so sorta speak. Um, so a thousand dollars, it was just ridiculous. Really? Speaker 1: 02:55 You haven't just experienced the pandemic through business hardship. Your family has suffered from the virus. Can you tell us about that? Speaker 2: 03:04 I have a 69 year old sister, but she got it through a neighbor of hers. A neighbor of hers came back from Venezuela. She told me she came back and she was just, you know, on the front door and we're just talking and it was cold outside. So I felt sorry for her. I let her in anyway. So she got, she got infected and, um, I was, I was really worried for her because, you know, 69 years old, she, uh, she had, uh, he's had lung issues in the past. And, uh, her husband has diabetes, hypertension, and I was really scared. Luckily she went to the hospital for a couple of days and they were able to get her, uh, her, um, oxygen saturation up. And she was back. I was really surprised, uh, and, and blessed and thankful that, uh, she was her husband, surprisingly with diabetes, uh, got a cold and, and really didn't have that many symptoms that I was surprised yet. My wife, her, um, 38 year old niece who lives in Mexico, she got it really bad. She was in the hospital for two and a half months. She was intubated. And, uh, she has the scars to prove it. I was really scared. We were scared for her. Um, she ended up surviving. She's still not a hundred percent though. Uh, but she pulled through, luckily we haven't had any deaths, so, but it's been pretty close. Speaker 1: 04:37 You know, Mario, how long do you think you can take another closure? Speaker 2: 04:43 Um, um, I, I'm thinking seven weeks. That's my prediction. That's what I did this weekend. I got there when I crunched the numbers and I looked into my savings. I looked into my 401k, uh, I'm retired, 80 and T uh, telecommunications major. I would point to your [inaudible] and I was able to save up some money. I have my 401k, I, haven't not old enough to get into my pension yet and a half, but anyways, um, um, seven weeks it attached to your question is my calculation. Speaker 1: 05:14 Seven weeks. Have you thought about what you do then if it lasts that long? Speaker 2: 05:20 I don't know. We'll see what it is. I don't know. Um, I, I, you know, look for another job. Um, my wife, I know she can be an instructor at a, at a cosmetology school. They've always asked for her back. Um, so you might have to look for something, you know, another, another type of a job. Speaker 1: 05:40 Well that I, I appreciate that. I appreciate speaking with you. I'm glad you took out the time to do this. I've been speaking with Mario Gastelum owner of Christina Herrera hair salon in OTI Mesa, Mario. Thank you so much. Good luck. And thanks for speaking with us. Speaker 2: 05:56 No, thank you for having me. Thank you. All. Take care.