I am a state board certified cosmetologist and sole owner of a small business/beauty salon for 25 years with no employees. I have the training and experience working in a sanitary environment. Procedures are to disinfect work area, implements, and sanitize before each client on a regular basis.

The survival of the independent salon professionals is at risk. We are facing a grave financial hardship. We need our district officials to see what this is doing to our industry and livelihood.

April 20, 2020 Dear Governor Cuomo, I hope you, family, friends, and staff stay well in this scary time. I am starting a petition today to urge you to find the money necessary to provide some economic relief for undocumented immigrants in our New York State community. In New York City, Mayor de Blasio is tapping George Soros's nonprofit, Open Society Foundations, and in California Governor Newsom is drawing on non-profits founded by the widow of Steve Jobs and the Zuckermans respectively. Perhaps most city and state immigrant-rights nonprofits are not as well-heeled as those coming out of Silicon Valley, but surely there are other nonprofits out there willing to step in. Mayor de Blasio found the Open Society Foundations. I think we both know a former mayor who likes to present himself these days as a "progressive." This is the perfect opportunity for him to burnish that image. Then I remember the richest man in the world wanted to open an Amazon factory in Queens, but local opposition squashed the deal. I'm sure you had some contact with Mr. Bezos in trying to woo Amazon, why not call upon those positive connections now? You could sell Amazon financing as paving a better reputation for Amazon in the city for the future. We both know that whatever financing Amazon provides - my guess is it would be about the same as the 20 mil from Soros's organization - won't be enough to smooth relations completely with the NYC Council, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do for our city and state. Governor Cuomo, as the antithesis of Trump, you have won gushing media approval in recent weeks. What about using some of that star power to appeal to the many left-leaning and philanthropic stars in Hollywood, or even better, keeping it local, in the rap world - which has its origins in the Bronx, after all? In any case, you must come up with the money somehow. As Mayor de Blasio stated, “Immigrants are the heart of this City — they are our friends, neighbors and colleagues." And Patrick Gaspard, the president of the Foundations stated, “This crisis has laid bare just how much we depend on low-wage workers who stock our grocery shelves, harvest and deliver our food, staff society’s essential services. These essential workers are also the people with the least access to services and benefits, many of them beyond the reach of the government’s stimulus package.” Gaspard's comments are well put. And although the city's plan, targeting to reach 20,000 people with payments between $400 and $1000 dollars, is a positive first step, more is needed, both for immigrants in the city and, of course, the state. Immigrants, often on the front lines as essential workers, are one of the most vulnerable populations in our community. It is imperative on us to do the right thing morally by them. It is also the prudent thing to do. With the vicious spread of this virus, we are only as safe as the weakest member in our community. Stay safe, Ed Kilcullen

The coronavirus is only one in a series of pandemics which have emerged in the 21st century. Our battle against covid 19 has been severely hampered causing over 10,000 deaths by lack of personal protective equipment for our hospital, nursing home and long term care facilities as well as for those in the grocery stores, warehouses, supply chain and delivery systems for food. This includes doctors, nurses, nurses' aides and orderlies, janitorial people, food service workers and warehouse workers, grocery store personal and the delivery systems. These inexpensive items were supplied on an as needed basis from China and other Asian countries. When there was no emergency, the system worked but has collapsed in our time of greatest need. We need to manufacture and control the production in this country. The factories for these jobs could be based in areas where unemployment is high because industries have become obsolete such as coal mining though the whole the fossil fuel industry is heading in this direction. We are hypocrites when we applaud the work of people on the front lines of disease and yet send them to battle without the low tech equipment they need because corporations could make more money by having it made elsewhere. Our military has already done the research on essential supply chain disruption. Our government should act upon it.

Tennis provides individuals hours of good activity for mental and physical health. After being restricted from tennis for 4+ weeks, we have had enough time to flatten the curve, which is the purpose of Shelter-in-Place. Please reopen all tennis courts and clubs.

The survival of the Independent Licensed Skincare professional is at risk. We are facing grave financial hardship. It imperative that skincare studios and spas are reinstated. Most of this industry is self-employed, in order to feed our families, pay our bills, and generally survive we need to work. We are not given Paid Time Off or Insurance Benefits.

Licensed beauticians across the state of Oklahoma rely on their income from clients. The extra $600 weekly is what some beauticians make in a day, let alone it’s adding to the influx of filing for unemployment and draining the economy. This business is necessary, for not only those in the healthcare industry, but others deemed essential.

The survival of the independent beauty professional is at risk. We are facing a grave financial hardship.

Our hands are our livelihood. We our essential to our local community who are in need of pain management.

My wife and I are CrossFit gym owners in Orange County. We created our facility to be a place of healing and inspiration, and that is exactly what it is. We have a close-knit community, and our members tell us that no matter what kind of day they have had, they can come here and leave it all behind for an hour, and then leave feeling better. While stopping the spread of COVID-19 must be at the forefront of our efforts, we must consider the urgency of healthful activity. People have been largely left quarantining in a sedentary environment, devoid of sunlight, stress-eating sugary snacks. Each of these things alone when left unchecked becomes detrimental to health. When combined, though, the synergistic effect is a perfect storm for the development of toxicity, inflammation, and ultimately disease. The longer this goes on, the greater risk people have of making habits that will likely lead to obesity, chronic illness, and healthcare dependency, and the more overloaded the medical system will eventually become. At our CrossFit gym, we have nearly 4,000 square feet and each member has a dedicated station. When they are working out there is a naturally occurring 10 foot distance from one member's face to another. I would imagine that other CrossFit gyms are similar, as well. CrossFit gyms are distinct from any other type of gym: due to the length of barbells, as well as bodies moving spontaneously and quickly, social distancing is something that just happens without thought. Additionally, we keep a very clean facility; we have to, because that is what our members expect. In fact, they even clean their own equipment thoroughly when they put it away. We have also created a cleaner made from 75% ethyl alcohol and antiviral essential oils, which we began using aggressively to clean the equipment and stations prior to the mandate closing gyms. Physical activity and social interaction are vital to health and well-being, and we must be allowed to do our part as CrossFit gym owners: to provide environments that support healing and inspiration. Never before has this been so important. Please tell Governor DeSantis to support the re-opening of CrossFit gyms contingent on strict compliance with current social distancing guidelines and a thorough equipment cleaning protocol following each use - perhaps even gloves for a while until we are certain that the virus has been neutralized.

Covid 19 is affecting the economy in major ways and forcing people to make tough decisions for their families based upon recent events and work displacement. To ease the economical pain in our industry it is in our best discretion to open back up with these limited restrictions. Moreover the quarantine was implemented to flatten the curve of the spread of covid 19 to ensure that hospitals were not overwhelmed all at once and to help prevent such rapid spread. The number of people infected is currently on a decline and the numbers aren’t as bad as once projected. Additionally Tattoo artist are trained and certified in blood borne pathogens and cross contamination as well as many other medical safety and sterility procedures.

The survival of the independent health & beauty professionals is at risk. Many are already in grave financial hardship while others are on their way. Many of us cannot pay our bills or buy food now and others are close behind if we don’t get back to work soon, Please consider this petition to let us work again. We know & comply with the rules of sanitation everyday already in our work environment & understand them better than the average person because we are licensed through the state of New Mexico. We know how to properly clean and sanitize all of our tools and work space. All we have to do is add masks as many already use gloves and aprons & wipe down any surfaces our clients touch.