The Latest on Covid Precautions

My goal is to make everyone feel safe and welcome, no matter their risk tolerance or situation. Here’s what is happening in the massage studio right now, as we are move from pandemic to endemic.

Your Massage Therapist

I am fully vaccinated, and boostered. I will be wearing a face mask, a well-fitted N95, for all client work, for the foreseeable future. 

Been Sick in the Past TEN DAYs?

As I write this, we are deep into cold and flu season. I ask that you please adhere to this policy carefully. 

If you've been sick in the past 10 days  (cold, flu, or covid), please contact me BEFORE YOU ARRIVE to let me know when your symptoms started and ended. If you currently have symptoms, such as a fever, please reschedule, free of charge. My own immune system is sluggish, so other’s small colds can mean weeks out of work for me. Email or text 510-604-2005.

Client Face MAsks

Your Choice. Client face masks are no longer required in the massage studio. If you’d like to wear one, you are welcome to. If you don’t want to wear one, that’s also ok.

Healthy Airflow

Outdoor Air. Opening the two windows and the door creates a medium to strong cross breeze in the massage studio, depending upon the weather outside. Before opening the massage studio in the new location, I replaced the standard windows with side opening windows, dramatically increasing potential airflow. Instead of just the bottom third of the window opening, nearly the entire window surface area opens. The window openings are oriented to take advantage of the most frequent wind direction (north west) of the Bay area. (Who knew all that geeky weather knowledge from kayaking would come in handy?)

Air Filters. There are also air filters in the massage studio, capable of filtering the air in the space 12 times an hour, the same safety standard that new hospital construction must meet. The filters are specifically selected to remove particles as small as viruses, as well as wildfire smoke. The air filters are turned on about 30 minutes prior to the first client of the day, and stay on, until about 30 minutes after the last client has left.

During Your Session. It’s currently winter, and clients overwhelmingly are choosing to be warm over having windows open. So the default right now is closed windows during your session. This may change with the seasons.

If you prefer outdoor air, you can choose to leave the windows (and door) open- just ask. 

Between clients. There’s 30 minutes between clients. The windows and door are open for about 15 of those minutes, and due to that strong cross breeze. most of the air in the massage studio is replaced by outdoor air. (Yes, I do this even on cold days.) Once the workday has started, I do not remove my face mask while inside the massage studio. The idea is that an immunocompromised client could come in after any other client, and be reasonably certain of breathing mostly fresh outdoor air.

Touchless Access

Touchless client access to things like soap, hand sanitizer, and paper towels

Surfaces

Based on the current best practice for massage studios, I am disinfecting surfaces once a day. Obviously, any items that may touch a client’s face, like the headrest or pillows, are fully covered by linens. Linens are washed in a commercial laundry, which are capable of reaching the high dryer temps needed for sanitization.

Thanks!

-Andrea

Give the Gift of Calm

In stressful times like these, the best gift might be a little peace and quiet. 

Massage gift certificates are available online for the Holidays. Choose your favorite design (there are some fun ones!), then email or print it. Someone is really going to appreciate it. Get A Gift Certificate Here

Holiday Hours

I'm taking a short break between Christmas and New Years; otherwise I'm here for normal office hours.

Sneak In One More Session Before Years End

There's currently plenty of availability the week leading up to Christmas, and I'd love to see some of you! Pro Tip: Massage is an especially rewarding way to use up HSA or FSA funds that expire at year's end. Visit FiveCreeksMassage.com to book your next session.

Let's Talk Covid Safety

I'm fully vaccinated, including boosters. To date, I haven't yet had covid despite working in close contact with a full roster of clients. So the precautions in the studio seem to be working well! They are: face masks for both myself and clients, air filters that are capable of cycling through all the air in the studio in less than ten minutes, and the entire space gets ventilated with outside air between clients. And as always, if feeling unwell, clients are asked to cancel their session at any time, free of charge.

Happy Holidays!

Spring Break & April Hours

The massage studio will be closed for a week, through April 4, for some R&R.

April Hours. There will also be a temporary disruption to the massage studio for some part of April. Until I know more about this emerging situation, I’ve closed off all but 4pm-7pm hours on the calendar for the entire month, to be certain that the massage studio will be habitable for your visit. More April hours are likely to open up later, as more is known, probably by early April.

Back To Normal In May. The massage studio will be back on full schedule soon, by the start of May, possibly sooner.

High Demand Period. Sometimes, there’s overwhelming demand from clients. The Pandemic has made those times more unpredictable. Right now seems to be one of those times. Happy Spring, y’all!

Online Booking Typically Functions Pretty Well. In the meantime, if you cannot select a particular date in online booking, it is likely because there’s no availability on that date. You can book up to 4 weeks in advance on online booking - try weeks that are farther out for best chances of grabbing a spot.

Apologies for the inconvenience. See you soon!

Current Safety Guidelines: Nov 2021

My goal is to make everyone feel safe and welcome, no matter their risk tolerance or situation. Here’s what we are doing in the massage studio right now.

Face Masks Required For All Clients

November 2021 - The massage studio is a health care facility, and face masks are required for all clients - vaccinated as well as unvaccinated. Pro Tip! You’ll likely be face down in a head rest for some amount of time. Please select a face mask with material that you can breathe through easily, with ample space for your nose and facial features.

It's Your Choice: Open or Closed?

Option 1: Open Windows and Outdoor Air

More Caution - Though the studio is indoors, it has multiple large openings to the outside, which you can choose to leave open during your session. Monitoring of the air by a CO2 meter confirms that leaving the door and windows open keeps the C02 levels about the same as outside air, even on windless days. If it’s a cold day, or you are concerned about noise, check out Option 2.

Option 2: Closed Windows and Air Filtration

Best For Cold Days - With the doors and windows closed, there's a network of air filters and outward blowing fans, that are capable of filtering the air in the space 12 times an hour. This is the same safety standard that new hospital construction must meet. The air filters are specifically selected to remove particles as small as viruses, as well as wildfire smoke.

What Hasn't Changed


I am fully vaccinated.  

Touchless client access to things like soap, hand sanitizer, and paper towels


Time between clients. There’s 30 minutes between clients, during which the air in the massage studio is turned over about 3 times.


Surfaces. Based on research that says that surfaces are not a major way that covid spreads, I am fully disinfecting just once a day. Obviously, any items that may touch a client’s face, like the headrest or pillows, are fully covered by linens. Linens are washed in a commercial laundry, which are capable of reaching the high dryer temps needed for sanitization.

Thanks!

-Andrea

Revised Safety Guidelines: Relaxing Just A Bit

With the June 15 reopening of California and low Covid transmission rates in our area, I’ve revised the safety guidelines for the massage studio. My goal is to make everyone feel safe and welcome, no matter their risk tolerance or situation.

Surfaces. Based on research that says that surfaces are not a major way that covid spreads, we are returning to usual cleaning standards, and disinfecting just once a day. Obviously, any items that may touch a client’s face, like the headrest or pillows, are fully covered by linens. Linens are washed in a commercial laundry, which are capable of reaching the high dryer temps needed for sanitization.

What Hasn’t Changed

• Standards for unvaccinated clients. Face masks are required. For those who get cold easily, may want to bring loose, comfy clothing. If it’s a cool or breezy day, we can work through clothing for your session if you like. 

• Healthy airflow. The studio has multiple openings to the outside. It also has a network of air filters and outward blowing fans, that are capable of filtering the air in the space 12 times an hour.

• Time between clients. There’s 30 minutes between clients, during which the air in the massage studio is turned over about 3 times.

• Touchless client access to things like soap, hand sanitizer, and paper towels