Sonoma County spa Osmosis reemerges from COVID-19 healing

2 years later: COVID’s impact on the North Bay economy

Sonoma and Solano counties: Different COVID approaches but similar outcomes

Sonoma has been among the California counties with the most proactive public health measures in the past two years, while Solano County has resisted measures.

How has each industry been faring?

Beyond the human toll, the pandemic, public policy responses to it and consumer reactions have had impacts on employers that vary by industry. We talked to players in several sectors, and here’s what they told us.

Voices of local business

Here are the personal stories of how North Bay leaders have steered their organizations through the past two years. What has changed? What were their worst fears, and how did they face them?

Michael Stusser remembers March 14, 2020, like it was yesterday.

“Overnight, I had to lay off my entire staff. It was shocking, terrifying and scary,” said Stusser, who founded Osmosis Spa in Freestone near Occidental in western Sonoma County.

In addition, to securing a Paycheck Protection Program loan for his business, the 30-year spa veteran worked with the Green Spa Network, 30 area spas which met virtually every week for months and drafted a 35-page document detailing how to operate a spa under COVID-19 restrictions.

“We know we had to operate safely, so we took hand sanitizer to a whole new level,” he said.

Stusser installed sinks for hand washing and filters to cleanse the air in every room, among other improvements.

“I knew we’d reopen at some point, so I used the closure to my advantage,” he said.

Still, the spa and the industry had a rough go. “We opened and closed three times,” he said.

In January 2021, a collective of pro beauty salons joined a group of restaurants in suing California for lost business, claiming the heightened lockdowns they faced arbitrarily singled them out. Later, the suit was dropped as the state opened up more of the economy.

Between permitted re-openings in Sonoma County, Stusser said demand was high for massage as people grappled with the threat of a contagious, fatal disease and the loss of their livelihoods.

“Demand was higher than ever before. People needed healing,” he said.

Apparently, they still do. Osmosis has fully booked its weekends into May, he added.

As a special thank you to the community and a gesture to get back to the normalcy of event on its grounds, Osmosis will host a spring equinox interactive ritual event on March 22.

2 years later: COVID’s impact on the North Bay economy

Sonoma and Solano counties: Different COVID approaches but similar outcomes

Sonoma has been among the California counties with the most proactive public health measures in the past two years, while Solano County has resisted measures.

How has each industry been faring?

Beyond the human toll, the pandemic, public policy responses to it and consumer reactions have had impacts on employers that vary by industry. We talked to players in several sectors, and here’s what they told us.

Voices of local business

Here are the personal stories of how North Bay leaders have steered their organizations through the past two years. What has changed? What were their worst fears, and how did they face them?

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