S.F. seeks to control pace of reopenings
San Francisco officials may ask Gov. Gavin Newsom for permission to restart certain parts of the city’s economy — like fully opening restaurants, bars and salons — faster than the state’s current timeline for lifting coronavirusrelated restrictions.
The Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday whether Dr. Tomás Aragón, the city’s public health officer, may apply for the local control. If the state grants the request, San Francisco will be able to set its own timetable for lifting restrictions, rather than wait for a green light from the state.
San Francisco is one of only six California counties that do not have such local control.
“It will give us more flexibility to make decisions locally that make sense for us,” said Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee, who plans to vote for the local variance. “We just have to use very good judgment in balancing the risks.”
San Francisco has already begun reopening parts of its economy, like outdoor dining and curbside retail. But activities that are considered higherrisk — like indoor service in restaurants and bars, gyms, nail salons, hotels, museums, playgrounds and zoos — may not return until later this summer.
The local variance would not immediately allow such activities to resume in San Francisco, but it would give local officials the power to decide when they do.
“I very much want to get people back to work and get our economy humming,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who said he is “heavily leaning” toward voting yes. But “I want to make sure our chief health officer is committed to public health and safety first.”
Supervisors Matt Haney, Hillary Ronen, Rafael Mandelman and Ahsha Safaí told The Chronicle they also plan to support the variance. The rest either didn’t respond to a request for comment Monday, or said they were still deciding how to vote.
The motion needs eight votes to pass Tuesday.
In April, Newsom outlined a fourphase plan for opening the state. Then, after facing mounting political pressure and a decimated economy, he began allowing individual counties to accelerate their reopening plans if they applied for a local variance.
In order to qualify for the local control, counties must meet a series of benchmarks such as: stable or decreasing hospitalization rate; no more than 25 new COVID19 cases per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks; widespread access to personal protective equipment.
Even as cases continue to rise in the state, 52 out of 58 counties have received approval to move forward. The result has been patchwork of policies of which businesses are allowed to open across California.
Much of the Bay Area initially resisted moving forward with the accelerated reopening plans, and some health officers even criticized the governor for moving too fast. But now, several months into the pandemic, all Bay Area counties have relaxed restrictions in one way or the other.
Contra Costa, Napa, Solano and Sonoma have been approved for the advanced reopening, although Contra Costa is taking a more gradual approach. Marin County also told The Chronicle that it plans to apply for the local variance, but it did not provide more details. Santa Clara County said it is “looking into” filing a request. Alameda and San Mateo counties did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Daily cases in San Francisco are still increasing. But hospitalizations have remained stable, and testing has increased. As a result, Mayor London Breed supports the city asking the state for local control.
“She is supportive of any way that we can continue to move forward as long as the health indicators remain stable,” said Jeff Cretan, a spokesman for the mayor.