San Francisco ENDS indoor dining, pauses reopening of high schools and clamps down on gyms and movie theaters after COVID-19 cases surged 250% in less than six weeks
San Francisco officials are bringing an end to indoor dining, pausing the reopening of high schools and clamping down on gyms and movie theaters after COVID-19 cases surged 250 percent in less than six weeks.
Mayor London Breed announced at a press conference Tuesday the city has no choice but to roll back its reopening plans due to the uptick in infections.
Hard-hit restaurants will be required to close all indoor dining again from 11:59 p.m. Friday.
Fitness centers and movie theaters can remain open but must reduce their capacity to 25 percent or 50 people, whichever is lower. This is a reduction from the current maximum capacity of 100 people.
High schools across the city that have not yet reopened must also stay closed, while those already open can remain open.
Mayor London Breed said at a virtual press conference Tuesday (pictured) the city had no choice but to roll back its reopening plans due to the uptick in infections
'We are seeing an uptick,' said Breed.
'Two weeks ago we put a pause on reopening efforts. We had plans to not only continue our reopening efforts but plans to really expand so many services, so many businesses but sadly two weeks ago we knew we were possibly headed in this direction.'
She added: 'We have to take a moment to recognize that there is a problem.'
COVID-19 cases in San Francisco have soared 250 percent since October 2, a growth Breed described as a 'cause for concern'.
In the last three weeks alone, the number of cases per day per 100,000 people has more than doubled from 3.7 to 9 cases per 100,000 people.
The positivity rate has gone from a 'record low' to 1.28 percent, said Breed.
The seven-day average of new daily cases has reached 60 and, though hospitalizations remain at a low of 21, officials warned they expect this to increase in the coming weeks in line with the growth in infections.
Hard-hit restaurants will be required to close all indoor dining again from 11:59 p.m. Friday. Indoor dining at John's Grill in San Francisco on October 1
Fitness centers and movie theaters can remain open but must reduce their capacity to 25 percent or 50 people, whichever is lower. Crunch Fitness gym in San Francisco
Other businesses and activities that have reopened including outdoor dining and take-out can remain open
Overall, a total of 13,139 people have been infected and 151 have been killed.
Dr. Grant Colfax, head of the Department of Public Health, said San Francisco is in a fall surge that started on October 21 and is worse than the city witnessed in the summer.
'We are averaging nearly 80 new cases a day now,' Colfax said. 'Up from just 32 new cases at the end of October.'
He warned: 'If we do not turn this around our fall surge will exceed our summer surge.'
'If we do not pause and if we do not reverse it is entirely plausible that we will face a situation where our healthcare system could become overwhelmed.'
Colfax said the city was doing 'everything we can to avoid reinstating a shelter-in-place order that would unfortunately shut our city down for the holidays.'
Other businesses and activities that have reopened including outdoor dining and take-out, elementary and middle schools, offices, retail shopping, personal services, and cultural and family activities such as museums and aquariums can remain open at current capacities.
This scaling back of reopening plans comes as a blow to the city's restaurants that were finally able to reopen indoor dining at 25 percent capacity on September 30, after enduring months of closures.
But plans to then increase the capacity to 50 percent were put on hold in October as cases increased across the city.
COVID-19 cases in San Francisco have soared 250 percent since October 2, a growth Breed said is a 'cause for concern'. Overall, 13,139 people have been infected and 151 have been killed
The seven-day average of new daily cases has reached 60 and the positivity rate has gone from a 'record low' to 1.28 percent
Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, told the San Francisco Examiner the reopening of limited indoor dining had been 'the only real hope for many restaurants to survive the next three months.'
'We are very disappointed,' she said, warning of 'significant job losses' and that many restaurants may not survive.
The COVID-19 surge in San Francisco is just part of the wider surge seen across much of the state, with new cases increasing by 29 percent over the last week.
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly warned Tuesday that the state's seven-day positivity rate is now the highest it has been since the summer.
The COVID-19 surge in San Francisco is just part of the wider surge seen across much of the state, with new cases increasing by 29 percent over the last week
The rate reached 4.2 percent Tuesday, marking the first time it has risen above 4 percent since late August, Ghaly said.
Hospitalizations have also increased 31.6 percent in the last two weeks and admissions to ICU have soared 29.6 percent in the same timeframe, Ghaly said.
'This is hard,' said Ghaly. 'Many of us feel exhausted, isolated or impatient. We must do more. The virus is not over just because we are tired of it.'
California is now increasing restrictions across eleven counties in efforts to tackle the growing outbreak, with Sacramento, San Diego and Stanislaus all moving up to the strictest restrictions.
Further restrictions are also being placed in Amador, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Placer, Santa Cruz , Modoc, Siskiyou and Trinity.
The announcements come as little surprise after Governor Gavin Newsom warned Monday that areas could be hit with further restrictions due to the uptick in cases.
Nationwide, daily cases have topped 100,000 for the seventh day in a row.
More then 10.1 million have been infected and 239,002 Americans have died.
