San Francisco extends stay-at-home order, COVID-19 journey quarantine indefinitely
San Francisco is extending its quarantine rules for stays at home and for coronavirus indefinitely, the city said on Thursday.
The state may have approved San Francisco and other Bay Area counties as early as Jan. 8 to opt out of regional home stay ordinance if ICU capacity has improved, but the city does not appear to be awaiting instruction from the State.
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“We have proactively kept order at home and quarantine on travel to protect the Franciscans and in the hope that by acting quickly we can flatten the curve and reopen it faster,” said Mayor of London Breed in a press release. “That seems to be working, but we need more time to realize that we are going in the right direction and that the December break is not throwing us back.”
According to state rules, a region’s stay-at-home order may be lifted if the remaining ICU capacity exceeds 15%. The Bay Area’s current intensive capacity is 8.5%. Given current trends and an expected spike after the holidays, San Francisco officials are not confident that the situation will improve until Jan. 8.
Other counties in the Bay Area have worked with San Francisco in the past. When we asked the local health officials if they would renew their orders, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma counties said they would all be relocating in connection with the timing of the state. (We’ll update this story as soon as we hear from more counties.)
Under the stay-at-home ordering restrictions, most non-essential businesses such as gyms, cinemas, museums, salons, and barbershop are required to remain closed. Only retail stores can be open at 20% capacity. Restaurants may only be open for take-away and delivery.
All social gatherings of any size, indoors and outdoors, are technically prohibited.
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In addition to the stay-at-home order, San Francisco is also expanding its mandatory travel quarantine, which requires people coming from outside the Bay Area to be quarantined for 10 days after their return.
The perpetual restrictions are worrying business owners in the city, who have been grappling with numerous uncertainties as early as 2020.
“Look, after the year we’ve had, there’s no way we can plan a downturn. We’re down,” said Lori Regis, co-owner of Boullettes Larder restaurant in the San Francisco Ferry Building.
If lawmakers want to keep imposing these types of restrictions, Regis would like them to provide more financial support as well.
“Otherwise we will be there for another year. The gastronomy cannot recover quickly,” she said.
“When retail is open, you’re inside. You have that, but you can’t dine outside? So that’s a small (mixed message),” added Farshad Ghaffari of San Francisco.
“At the moment we are still in a total prohibition mode,” said supervisor Matt Haney, who also fears that mixed messages could have unintended consequences. “I am concerned that we are banning outdoor activities so we are forcing people into the house, which is much more dangerous and where most of the spread occurs, namely indoor gatherings.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect new ICU capacity numbers and to include responses from other local counties.
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