You may have heard that there is now a curfew in San Francisco as the city is attempting to reverse a surge in some cases.
The so-called “Limited Stay at Home Order” was introduced by the state this month and is required in the counties in the violet plains where the transmission of the coronavirus is widespread. San Francisco entered this most restrictive category over the weekend, and the new ordinance went into effect Monday evening.
The curfew runs daily from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Residents are asked to stay at home and not be around anyone outside their household at this time. Yes, that means after 10 p.m. there are no more drinks in the backyard with friends
You can go outside alone or with people you live with to walk your dog or play sports. You can leave home to go to an important business, such as picking up groceries for the week at a grocery store or medicine at a pharmacy, or to see a doctor in a hospital. You can also go to work when you have an important job, such as B. a health care worker, a transit worker or a grocery cashier.
In short, health officials want you to stay home unless leaving is critical and not socializing.
Many indoor businesses have closed, including indoor restaurants and movie theaters, as the city moves to the Purple Plains. And those non-essential stores that may still be open have to close between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. This includes non-critical retail stores, office facilities, personal services, and outdoor dining (see a full list of what can and cannot be open here).
San Francisco is one of eight counties in the Bay Area in the purple row. Alameda, Napa, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Solano, San Mateo, and Santa Clara are also purple, forcing the same limited order of stay at home. Marin County is in the less restrictive red category.
When the state first announced the new ordinance on Nov. 20, California Health and Welfare Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly that he should avoid more extreme restrictions. But on Monday, Governor Newsom said a full stay-home order was possible in the near future as virus spreads reach unprecedented levels.
The 7-day average in new daily cases was 14,657 on Monday, compared with 9,881 at the peak of the summer spike in July.
“If these trends continue, we will have to take much more dramatic and arguably more drastic measures,” Newsom said.
The state is asking Purple Tier counties to implement the limited-stay home order by December 21, but the requirements could change or the existing order expanded until then.
The state system sorts counties into four levels – “purple” (widespread), “red” (significant), “orange” (moderate) or “yellow” (minimal) – which measure and determine the spread of COVID-19, what types of businesses and activities are allowed to open.
The allocation of the levels of a county is based on two key metrics: the case rate (number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants) and the positivity rate (percentage of people who tested positive for the virus of all people tested). A health equity metric is also part of the equation, but it only comes into play to help a county move to a less restrictive level.
Districts in the purple category report more than seven new daily cases per 100,000 residents and have positivity rates in excess of 8%. As of Monday, 51 of the state’s 58 counties were purple and comprised 99% of the population.
