Bay Area races to contain outbreak

Cities across the region issue ever more drastic social distancing orders to try to prevent spread of contagion.

San Francisco banned almost all hospital visitors Saturday, including family, clergy and in some cases the partners of expectant mothers as the Bay Area continued to tighten rules on all gatherings in an effort to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Cities slashed the size of allowed events, more local facilities were closed, and Stanford planned to shutter its campus and send its students packing. It’s all part of a growing recognition by civic leaders that the threat of a deadly disease requires extreme measures.

Bay Area roads were virtually empty Saturday as people stayed home and tried to limit contact outside their families. BART ridership was down 50% on Friday and many business areas were virtual ghost towns.

In Oakland, public officials hurried to support small-business owners. At a news conference in Oakland’s Chinatown on Saturday, Mayor Libby Schaaf announced an expansion of a zero-interest loan program that could support small struggling businesses. She encouraged business owners to document online how the outbreak is impacting them as Oakland pursues philanthropic partnerships for possible grants.

“As you’re cuddling up with loved ones at home, remember your local businesses,” Schaaf said. “Instead of cooking, order delivery from one of your favorite local restaurants, go online and buy some items from favorite local stores, buy a gift certificate for use when we feel like coming back into restaurants and shops.”

But news about the virus was grim. In the Bay Area Saturday, 27 new coronavirus cases were reported, with 12 in Santa Clara County, six in San Mateo County, five in San Francisco and four in Contra Costa County. Santa Clara County also reported its second death late Friday night, a woman in her 80s. That brings California’s death total to five, and public health officials nationally warned that the toll from the pandemic will get worse before it gets better.

Contra Costa County barred public gatherings of more than 100, following San Francisco’s lead. San Mateo County banned gatherings of more than 50. The California Department of Health issued new guidance to cap numbers to 250 in one room at casinos, movie theaters and performances. Nursing homes were told to bar most visitors, end group activities and even communal meals.

Limiting contact with other people is key to slowing the virus, health officials said.

“Social distancing and mitigation aren’t to protect the 30or 20-year-old, they’re to protect your nana, your granddaddy, the people who you love in your lives,” U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said at a White House news conference Saturday.

San Francisco took some of the area’s toughest actions Saturday when officials ordered hospitals in the city to ban nonessential personnel and most visitors from their facilities until April 30.

Those visitors who will be barred include many that patients are anxious to see, such as spouses, partners, family members, friends and clergy. The restrictions are an effort to curb the risk of infecting vulnerable patients.

The city’s ban was especially troubling to expectant mothers, who might not even be allowed to have the newborn’s father in the hospital, much less the delivery room.

The city’s order allows hospitals to make exceptions, and a number of them already have decided to allow a support person in the delivery room. Special permission also can be given to visitors with critical duties, such as end-of-life consideration or the care of minors, the order issued Friday said.

It’s not only hospitals. San Mateo County has closed all its libraries, the PAC-12 has canceled all sports for the rest of the academic year, and Stanford and UC Berkeley will be virtually deserted.

When a Stanford student tested positive for the virus, school officials announced that almost all students must leave campus by 5 p.m. Wednesday. They said they could provide on-campus undergraduate housing and dining for a very limited number — prioritizing international students who can’t go home, those who have known severe health or safety risks, and students who are homeless, plus a small number of residential staff.

On Saturday, UC Berkeley announced a graduate student tested positive — but the campus had already scrapped inperson classes through May, when the semester ends.

Seeing the potentially devastating impact of closing down much of society, federal and local officials have freed up funding and promised free virus testing, financial support for businesses and help for families with kids out of school.

Public health officials are urging people to stay home, which is emptying local businesses and hurting workers losing out on pay. San Francisco will not shut off utility services because of unpaid bills for 60 days, Mayor London Breed announced Saturday, following PG&E’s similar announcement.

State Sen. Scott Wiener plans to introduce emergency legislation that would halt evictions of small businesses that fall behind on their rent during the coronavirus crisis. The San Francisco Democrat said he and Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, were also calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to issue an executive order to prohibit such evictions.

While much of the public is staying home, some of the several hundreds of Californians who disembarked from the Grand Princess cruise ship in Oakland raised alarms about what they said was a lack of social distancing and cleanliness as they remained under quarantine at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield.

Rep. John Garamendi, DWalnut Grove (Sacramento County), sent a letter to top U.S. officials Saturday saying he heard that the cleaning agency used by the Department of Health and Human Services was understaffed, leading to questionable sanitation.

Those quarantined only had one bar of soap for hand-washing in their rooms, he said. They touched serving utensils with their bare hands and waited in line close to one another for food. Meals are now being delivered to rooms after the issue was raised, he added.

The agency has started town hall meetings by phone to keep the quarantined passengers informed.

The quarantine “has presented significant logistical challenges,” a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services said Saturday.