[custom_adv] Before 8 a.m., the women wearing masks and bandannas began to line up gingerly outside the Three-13 Salon, Spa & Boutique, taking care to keep a six-foot distance. [custom_adv] In the middle of a deadly viral pandemic, some needed trims and root touch-ups. Others craved pedicures, blowouts and face waxes. [custom_adv] Outside the double glass doors, an employee took their temperatures with an infrared thermometer, asked if they had had a cough or fever, and then handed them a small sticker with a red check mark. [custom_adv] As Georgia became the first state Friday to reopen a broad swath of businesses — lifting restrictions on gyms, barber shops, hair and nail salons, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys after a monthlong shutdown to halt the spread of the COVID-19 virus — the move did not exactly mark a return to normalcy. [custom_adv] With COVID-19 still spreading across the state – its death toll had climbed by 35 on Thursday – many salons and tattoo parlors remained shut as business owners worried about the health risks of reopening. Some opened their doors to reveal scenes out of science fiction, with skeleton crews spaced six or even 12 feet apart, wearing nitrile gloves and surgical and N95 masks. [custom_adv] Many local officials and infectious-disease experts have warned that reopening too early without more testing could lead to a surge in new infections. Already, more than 22,000 people in Georgia have tested positive for the virus and 892 people have died since the outbreak began. [custom_adv] Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms urged people to stay home and carry on social distancing. [custom_adv] “Listen to the scientists,” Bottoms said Friday morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “There is nothing essential about going to a bowling alley or getting a manicure in the middle of a pandemic.” [custom_adv] But the mood was orderly yet relaxed at Three-13, a large salon in Marietta, an affluent suburban city about 20 miles north of Atlanta. [custom_adv] More than half of the 85 full-time staff were back in the 13,000-square-foot space that had been sanitized and reconfigured to allow for social distancing. There was no waiting area inside, and hair-cutting stations were spaced 12 feet apart. [custom_adv] “This feels safer than going to the grocery store,” said Karon Gilmore, 59, senior director of operations for a large consulting company, as her regular stylist, Natascha Updegrove, ran a comb through her wet blonde hair. [custom_adv] “I wouldn’t call this reckless,” Updegrove said through a black face mask with a charcoal filter. “It’s almost like we’re setting the example on how to safely reopen.”