Governor Cuomo announced on Friday that five regions of the state are moving onto Phase 2 of reopening the economy. Those regions include the Finger Lakes, of which Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties are a part. 

The Western New York region will have to wait until at least the early part of the first week of June, and many businesses and customers have questions about what that will look like.

There are a series of social distancing and safety guidelines from the state for each industry.

Those industries include retail shopping in stores, offices, real estate, car sales and rentals, retail rentals and repairs, and commercial building management, along with hair salons and barbershops in a limited capacity.

"People just want to get back to normal," said Dina Santos, owner of Blu Spa & Salon in West Seneca. "We want to be a part of that, but we want to do it safely. Make sure clients, employees, everybody's safe."

Santos has been anxiously awaiting and preparing for the possibility of reopening. They're disinfecting the entire building, making sure appointments are staggered, there's plenty of space for clients and employees, and equipment is cleaned often. 

When they are able to reopen, there are a host of requirements from the state and only some of their services will be allowed in Phase 2.

By appointment only they can give haircuts, color treatments and styling. They are not allowed to do makeup, nails, facials, waxing, tweezing, beard and nose-hair trimming or massages. 

And all employees who interact with clients must be tested for COVID-19 every two weeks.

"We recommend that the professionals get a test before they reopen. That's not a mandate, that's a recommendation," Cuomo said. "We recommend to customers to ask the barber or professional in the hair salon if they had a test before you use their services."

Santos has been frustrated at times by the lack of guidance on requirements and the timeline for open.

"We want to be New York State compliant. We will do whatever it is, whatever they say is the safest way to open, we'll wait for that. It's just if maybe we knew a little bit more," Santos said.

Exactly when they can reopen is still a question. The earliest the Western New York Region could move to Phase 2 is next Tuesday, two weeks after beginning Phase 1. The governor's office, state and local officials and experts on viruses will look at the data and determine if it's safe to reopen. There had been some confusion and anger about the timeline when other regions across the state hit that two-week mark and saw a potential delay in opening before the governor allowed them to move to Phase 2 on Friday afternoon.

"I wanted to make sure we had all the best minds look at all the data before we stepped forward," Cuomo said.

Santos is hopeful to reopen as soon as possible. They've already booked appointments for next Tuesday and into July.  She wants to make sure she can keep her 30 employees on board as her PPP small business loan is scheduled to expire.

"I think as along as we can open the doors I think it will give people some sort of comfort level when they can come and see that we are prepared when we're ready to open," Santos said.

Industries that will remain closed through Phase 2:

• Malls; specifically, any indoor common portions of retail shopping malls with 100,000 or more square feet of retail space available for lease; however, any stores located within shopping malls, which have their own external entrances open to the public, separate from the general mall entrance (e.g. strip malls), may open
• Dine-in and on-premise restaurant or bar service, excluding take-out or delivery for off-premise consumption
• Large gathering/event venues, including but not limited to establishments that host concerts, conferences, or other in-person performances or presentations in front of an in-person audience
• Gyms, fitness centers, and exercise classes, except for remote or streaming services
• Video lottery and casino gaming facilities
• Movie theaters, except drive-ins
• Places of public amusement, whether indoors or outdoors, including but not limited to, locations with amusement rides, carnivals, amusement parks, water parks, aquariums, zoos, arcades, fairs, children’s play centers, funplexes, theme parks, bowling alleys, family and children’s attractions