Covid-19: Massage Wearing a Mask

What does the time period between the Covid-19 work stoppage and the Covid-19 resurgence look like for massage therapists?

Really?!

I know, it sucks, but we have to look at the Post-Stoppage/Pre-Resurgence time-frame, Q2 into Q3, more specifically May through August, in order to be prepared and successful when we go back to work.

What I mean by prepared is that it’s not going to be business as usual when we return to work, and I’m not just talking about from a revenue perspective. I’m talking about from an operations perspective.

During that time we’ll still have to implement safety measures to help curb the Covid-19 resurgence in the fall.

That means we need to come to terms with what massage life may look like when we can return to work. Let’s just say it’s going to be different.

Operations Adjustments Post-Covid-19 Work Stoppage

For starters, at the most basic level I’m expecting some operations guidance/rules from the State and/or State Board of Massage. In addition to that we, you and I, will have to figure out what we and our clients will accept as safe when doing massage.

Here are operational changes that my wife, Lisa and I, are planning for our offices:

1. Wearing masks

Depending on when we go back to work masks may be required. Even if they’re not, we plan on wearing them.

We’ll also have extra masks for clients who want to wear them.

Okay, I have to admit that I balked at this one when Lisa first mentioned it because…well…let’s just say that I can be cost-conscious (cheap) at times, and I saw costs rising with more masks and more laundry and more hand sanitizer and more paper towels and more and more and more…

But what is the ultimate cost if you don’t offer clients masks?

Well, for one, your client may not feel as safe as you think. Even though mask wearing is primarily to protect the people around the mask wearer, a mask on a client is an extra barrier of protection for capturing water droplets should your mask move as you’re working.

And here’s the one that really hit home for me: A client may not want to get a massage knowing that she is not doing everything she can do to protect you from her if she is unknowingly a carrier. That’s how I’d feel if I were the client.

2. We’re going to schedule longer breaks in between clients.

Why?

So that we have time to thoroughly disinfect the office and so that there are never two clients in the waiting room at the same time.

3. We’re going to only have one therapist working at a time.

A lot of times we have more than one therapist working in our Phoenixville office or there is overlap. But our plan, at least in the beginning, is to have only one therapist in the office at a time.

This occurred to me the other day when our business phone rang. (Yes, I jumped. OMG, what the hell is that?!)

She was a referral from a PT, and wanted to come in when we opened back up. Great! I told her that I was probably going to be working with her, but it could also be Lisa or Rob.

That’s fine, she said, but then asked, Will they be there when I’m there?

Huh….I hadn’t thought about that, and that’s what I initially said to her. But as the conversation went on and I had time to think about things I assured her that only one massage therapist would be in the office with her. It just makes sense for both safety and comfort reasons.

4. We’re going to keep our main office door open, and we’ll have signage up telling clients what to do.

I really appreciated the idea of letting customers know what they should do in terms of Covid-19 safety when I went to Whole Foods the other day.

First of all, the Whole Foods around us put One Way street directions signs in the aisles which no one followed, but was a great idea to regulate traffic flow and prevent a situation where people are trapped if they’re trying to maintain a six foot distance.

They also have foot decals on the floor to indicate where you should stand as you wait to check out.

But the best thing of all was not what Whole Foods did, but what a Whole Foods cashier did. She gave me clear instructions on how I should proceed with the check out.

First, she had me wait where I was standing on the foot decals as she wiped down the conveyer belt.

Then she said: You can stand there (at the beginning of the conveyer belt) to load your items.

Cool. I loaded my items.

Then she said, You can stand there until I’m finished ringing you up.

“But I brought my bags. I can bag. Or can I?”

Sure, she said, walk through to the end of the conveyor belt and you can bag from there.

Physical distancing maintained. Boom.

As weird as this sounds, she made my day.

I knew exactly what to do to keep her safe, me safe and the world safe.

And believe me, I’m not a rules-kinda-guy. I want to do my own thing when I want to do it—until the stakes are my life or someone else’s life, then I want clear instruction.

And that’s what we are going to give our clients when we get back to work—a safe environment and a piece of mind through new operating procedures and clear instructions.

How about you?

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