S.F., amid progress, to reopen gradually
Timeline: City to follow 4 phases for businesses to operate within limits
San Francisco officials Thursday unveiled the plan that will guide the city’s gradual emergence from the stayathome mandates that have defined and upended daily life for more than two months during the coronavirus pandemic.
The city’s plan reflects San Francisco’s progress to date in curbing the spread of the coronavirus. So long as the city continues to limit the transmission of the virus and suppress the numbers of new cases and hospitalizations, it will shift to the next phase of reopening starting June 15, when most indoor retail sales, outdoor restaurant dining, nonemergency medical appointments and professional sporting events — without fans in the seats — will be allowed to resume.
“The only reason why we are in this situation in the first place is because most San Franciscans took the (stayhome) order seriously,” Mayor London Breed said at a news conference Thursday. “And you’ve done an amazing job at complying with this order. So we wouldn’t be here if most people wouldn’t cooperate.”
San Francisco residents will have to live within a “new normal,” Breed said, until a
vaccine is available.
And as more people start to move about, city officials also introduced a new rule that anyone age 13 or older must wear a face mask outdoors when they get within 30 feet of anyone not living in their household. The rule also applies to runners, who will have to put on a face covering if they approach people within 30 feet.
Still more guidance around personal interactions — like social visits, dinner parties and play dates — is forthcoming, city officials said.
Each milestone on the city’s reopening plan permits activities that bring progressively larger groups of people together. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will adjust its Muni services to accommodate each phase.
The city stopped pegging any reopening plans to a particular date after the release of its last health order on May 18. The stayhome order is in place indefinitely, with specific activities permitted on specific dates.
The plan allows for expanded child care and curbside retail and access to botanical gardens and outdoor museums and historical sites starting Monday. Inperson religious services and ceremonies will be allowed to resume June 15, as will outdoor exercise classes.
If San Francisco officials are still satisfied with the city’s health data, the next major phase would begin just over a month later, on July 13, when modified indoor dining would be allowed, along with some personal services like barbershops and hair salons.
The next major step would take effect in midAugust — city officials have not yet selected a more specific date — when schools, bars, gyms, nail and hair salons, and tattoo parlors, likely with some modifications to promote safety, could open.
The last phase, with no set date, would bring back some of the largest public gatherings, like concerts, sporting events with fans, nightclubs, festivals, and all hotels and lodging for leisure and tourism.
San Francisco Public Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax said that as the city works to reopen its economy, each resident must carry on the practices recommended by health professionals meant to stop the spread of the virus.
“That means covering your face, keeping social distance and getting tested if you have any symptoms,” he said. “These actions have saved lives and are going to be more important than ever as we start to move around the city again.”
San Francisco’s reopening plan also marks the city’s most
significant break with five other Bay Area counties — Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo and Santa Clara — which have crafted their health orders largely in step with one another.
Colfax said that San Francisco remained in “constant communication” with neighboring counties, and that health officials across the region are continuing to monitor a shared set of indicators to measure progress toward reopening.
“We know that this virus knows no borders, but we also understand that, to follow the data science and facts we need to tailor our response to our specific locales,” he said.
Much of the city’s reopening plan, particularly the two final phases, was crafted to harmonize with the state’s guidelines. San Francisco officials will reevaluate their plans should state mandates shift, said Carmen Chu, the city’s assessorrecorder and cochair of the economic task force that crafted the reopening plan.
The proposal, she said, was chiefly intended to give businesses and the public the chance to prepare for major changes in the coming months.
“You can’t just flip a switch and ask businesses to comply with different things and expect they’ll be able to do it the next day,” Chu said.
The city’s reopening plan “is a planning document to be able to provide our businesses and residents with an idea of where we think we’re going, given what we know about the virus right now, and what we know about state guidance right now,” she said.