A & Y Nail Salon in Gravesend, Brooklyn is open, after months of being closed.

But the mayor wants them to turn the open sign off once again.

"I feel really bad," an employee said.

This after the de Blasio administration said COVID cases are rising to unacceptable levels here and in eight other zip codes in Brooklyn and Queens.

It is unclear at this time if businesses will close in the neighborhoods. Despite the mayor's proposal, and his suggestion Monday that he will follow through with the shutdown, the governor said Monday that businesses will not close yet.

According to Anna Bershteyn, an assistant professor of Population Health at NYU Langone, closing businesses in one neighborhood while allowing them to stay open in an adjacent neighborhood, or even block, is not the best way to control the spread of the virus, but still necessary.

"It's not gonna be a perfect hermetic seal by a long shot, but it should bump down transmission at least to some extent," she said.

Bershteyn said while some people will continue to move through neighborhoods, many won't.

"With everything with COVID, you are making big tradeoffs between protecting people from this virus and economic pain, so it's a sensible first step to see if this does the job," she said.

A & Y Nail Salon is in zip code 11223, one of the hot spots, but just a few blocks away on Stillwell Avenue, businesses in an adjacent zip code, 11214, are not included in the proposed rollback.

It's something employees said is unfair.

“I cannot do anything," said one employee. "The government says close you close, you can’t say anything, that’s it."

Anette, the owner of Anny’s Beauty Salon on Flatbush Ave in Flatlands, is at a crossroads. She’s been trying to build back her small business - since she re-opened in June, but is at a breaking point financially.

“I spent all my money now," she said. "I don’t have money in my savings account."

Her business is located in zip code 11210, which is also on the list. She says she is getting ready for what she believes is inevitable.

“Whatever you tell me to do, I do it," she said. "I’m ready to do everything. I dont need any trouble.”

Council Member Farah Louis says she’s getting the same story from other small business owners calling her district office. They’re willing to comply, they just don’t have any of the specifics. 

“The communication is terrible," Louis said. "I think, one, we need to make a plan, and there needs to be some efficiency in not only communicating with elected officials but the community at large. Folks are not watching the briefings and they don’t have social media.”

Louis told NY1 that she was on a conference call with the governor’s office Monday trying to iron out the details. Whatever ends up happening. she says part of the solution needs to be a plan to help the businesses being forced to close.

“Folks are trying to recoup," she said. "It’s been a major loss for the last six months. They’ve been through a major economic loss. They are trying to figure out how to get back.”