coronavirus

San Francisco Expects to Reopen Outdoor Dining, Indoor Salons Thursday

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San Francisco Mayor London Breed applauded Gov. Gavin Newsom's announcement on Monday that he's lifting the statewide stay-home order, but she also urged residents to remain cautious of COVID-19 as some businesses could reopen as soon as Thursday.

With the statewide order that has been in effect since Dec. 17 now lifted, San Francisco is expecting to be placed in the purple tier of the state's COVID-19 reopening plan, allowing certain low-risk activities to reopen, including outdoor dining and indoor nail and hair salons.

Although the city, like the state, had been experiencing surges in COVID-19 cases since the holidays, Breed said Monday that cases have slightly gone down, with the city seeing 261 new cases per day, down from 280 new COVID-19 cases daily just two weeks ago. Additionally, the number of intensive care unit beds remains stable with 26 percent available.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed applauded Gov. Gavin Newsom's announcement on Monday that he's lifting the statewide stay-home order, but she also urged residents to remain cautious of COVID-19 as some businesses could reopen as soon as Thursday. Thom Jensen reports.

"The good news is we are in a better place than we have been in a long time," Breed said. "But there's still work to be done. It still means we have to wear a mask and we have to socially distance ourselves from one another. We have to use common sense and just accept that we're going to be living with this for some time."

She added, "The better our numbers get, the more we will be able to open, the more we will be able where we can get to see one another in person again."

With the stay-home order lifted, starting on Thursday morning, activities that can resume include outdoor dining at restaurants with up to six people per table; indoor and outdoor personal services like nail salons, hair salons, and tattoo shops; outdoor museums and zoos with 50 percent capacity; outdoor entertainment like skate parks and miniature golf with 25 percent capacity; outdoor gyms and indoor one-on-one training; open-air buses and boats; indoor funerals for up to 12 people; non-contact sports like golf and tennis; and outdoor religious and political events with up to 200 people.

Capacity will also increase at retail stores, from 20 percent to 25, and at grocery stores, from 35 percent to 50.

Additionally, hotels will be allowed to accept reservations, although guests from outside the Bay Area must make reservations for more than 10 days in order to self-quarantine.

Also on Monday, San Francisco Department of Public Health director Dr. Grant Colfax said the city is still in need of more of the COVID-19 vaccine, in order to hit its ultimate target of vaccinating 10,000 people daily. Colfax estimated the city has received 127,000 vaccines doses across all of the city's health care providers, but said supplies are going fast.

"With the DPH supply, even with the 10,000 we are told we'll be getting this week, we will be scheduled to basically exhaust our vaccine supply by as early as Wednesday or Thursday. We need more vaccine right now so we can get those shots into arms," he said.

So far, health care providers have been administering the vaccine to those most at need like health care workers, nursing home residents and those who are 65 years old and above.

On Friday, the city opened the first of three mass vaccination sites at City College of San Francisco, although for now, appointments will be by invitation-only as supplies remain limited and the city secures more vaccines.

Copyright BAYCN - Bay City News
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