Barber shop closes after visit by COVID positive customer

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    PEMBROKE, Massachusettes (WBZ ) — Deb’s Barber Shop in Pembroke is kind of like a neighborhood meeting place…old fashioned chairs and Old Spice aftershave. A place where the locals linger, but COVID changed all that. One customer at a time in the shop.

Now, Deb Hansen-Poirier’s world has come crashing down, for at least 10 more days. A customer tested positive for COVID, but what really frustrates her is that the customer should have known better. “To have it all explode because of one, yeah it’s really disheartening,” she said.

Deb said the customer was tested for COVID and then days later got a haircut and went shopping before the results came back.

“The numbers are skyrocketing, especially in Pembroke,” said Town Manager Bill Chenard. “We had more cases in the month of December than we had in all other months combined.”

Now, Deb has to wait for her 10-day quarantine to be over, and hope she doesn’t come down with COVID. “It’s always been about the customer’s comfort and safety first,” Deb said. “But now this is about me and my livelihood and my family, my health.”

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