Counties: Contra Costa among 11 in state that will roll back rules
San Francisco will shut down indoor dining this Friday and is pausing plans to reopen high schools after reporting an alarming spike in coronavirus cases that is pushing the city toward a coronavirus surge that could surpass the summer peaks, city and public health leaders said Tuesday.
The city remains in the least restrictive, yellow tier in California’s reopening plan, but public health officials said Tuesday that they were imposing immediate, aggressive new restrictions because of the “rapid and significant” increase in cases, including a 250% jump
since Oct. 2.
If the current pace holds, the city could report 300 cases a day by the end of December, officials said. It’s currently reporting 100 or fewer cases a day.
San Francisco’s announcement came as 11 California counties, including Contra Costa and Santa Cruz, were bumped back to more restrictive tiers in the state’s pandemic reopening plan on Tuesday, and as the coronavirus stampedes over much of the United States.
“We have a new president and a new vice president, and we know that we’ve made progress on the vaccine. But those things aren’t going to help us today,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said at a news briefing Tuesday in City Hall. “For now, we have to make sure that we’re protecting and saving lives here in the city.”
She said it’s “heartbreaking” to have to roll back some reopenings. City and public health leaders have said for months that reversing economic advances would be a worstcase scenario. But they said this move was necessary to slow the spread now, before the virus gets a deeper foothold and becomes much harder to contain.
“We want to do everything we can to avoid reinstating another shelterinplace order that would shut our city down during the holidays,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
California is approaching 1 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus and passed 18,000 deaths this week. State and local health officers are concerned that California communities will succumb to a national crush of cases that are overwhelming hospitals in some parts of the country.
The United States has been reporting well over 100,000 new cases a day for the past week and passed 10 million total cases, more than anywhere in the world, on Monday. National infectious disease experts said the country may see 200,000 cases a day in the near future with the virus so deeply embedded in some regions.
Nearly 240,000 Americans have died of COVID19. On Tuesday a recordhigh 61,964 people were hospitalized in the U. S., besting the previous peak of nearly 60,000 in the spring, according to the COVID Tracking Project. And the numbers continue to climb. Several states are approaching or surpassing hospital capacity, and death rates, which usually lag several weeks behind cases, are beginning to climb nationally.
“Exponential or high rates of transmission is exactly what we want to avoid statewide,” Dr. Mark Ghaly, California Health and Human Services secretary, said at a news briefing Tuesday. “We are working to control the transmission of COVID, making sure it doesn’t have the horrific impact in California that we’ve seen in other parts of the nation and other parts of the globe.”
Ghaly stopped short of saying the state was in a “surge,” adding that he’s not sure what exactly defines a surge. But he noted that this week is the first since the state launched its colorcoded, tiered reopening plan in August that no county has moved forward into a less restrictive tier. And many counties are reporting troubling increases in cases and positive test rates.
Statewide, the positive test rate is 4.2% — the first time it’s passed 4% since August, Ghaly said. The number of patients hospitalized or in intensive care with COVID19 has climbed about 30% over the past two weeks. Currently, more than 3,000 people are hospitalized and nearly 900 are in intensive care in California.
On Tuesday, three California counties — Sacramento, San Diego and Stanislaus — moved to the purple, most restrictive tier and must shut down indoor dining, places of worship, movie theaters and gyms. Schools that had been scheduled to reopen must remain closed.
Contra Costa and Santa Cruz counties were moved to the red tier, which mostly requires reduced capacity in indoor spaces. No other Bay Area counties were moved to a new tier this week. Contra Costa County public health officials had already reinstated most redtier restrictions, including reduced capacity for indoor activities, last week when they saw cases rising.
In Santa Cruz County, public health officials said a recent spike in cases was tied to Halloween. With the move to a more restrictive tier, several attractions at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk that opened only last weekend will have to close again.
Public health officials have largely attributed recent upticks in cases to social gatherings and lax behavior, such as not wearing face coverings around others. That trend is especially concerning with the holidays approaching.
The state has advised against nonessential travel during the holidays and is asking people to hold Thanksgiving and other holiday celebrations only with the people they live with. If they insist on gathering with others, public health officials recommend people hold gatherings outdoors and that those who don’t live together wear masks as much as possible.
Some Bay Area public health leaders have advised that people who travel to the region from parts of the country where the virus is spreading widely quarantine for 14 days before going out in public, or get tested for the coronavirus.
“Thanksgiving this year is going to look different than Thanksgiving last year. But we do have to make these hard choices, these sacrifices,” Ghaly said. “We know many people feel exhausted, they feel isolated and they’re impatient. We know that this is hard work. But we must do more.”
In San Francisco, the restrictions announced Tuesday will close indoor dining at standalone restaurants and in shopping centers and venues like museums; that change takes effect at 11: 59 p. m. Friday. Gyms and movie theaters must lower capacity to 25%, down from 50%.
High schools will not be able to resume inperson classes unless they already have reopened; elementary and middle schools are not affected by the new restrictions. No schools in San Francisco Unified School District, which educates about 54,000 children, have reopened. The school board on Tuesday introduced a proposal that would compel public schools to start reopening Jan. 25, but it would start with elementary classes.
Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, said she appreciates the concern of public health officials but she doesn’t support keeping high schools closed. Young people are suffering from the lack of social and academic structure, she said.
“San Francisco still has lower rates of community transmission than other parts in the country with open schools. We have high rates of mask compliance and natural ventilation due to our weather,” she said. “I am disappointed that schools were on the list today in halting reopenings. Nothing is more important than addressing our schools as we learn to live with this virus moving forward.”
San Francisco already had halted some other reopenings scheduled for this month, including indoor pools and bowling alleys, as well as plans to increase capacity for indoor dining and other activities. Restaurants were allowed to open for indoor dining at 25% capacity at the end of September, after staying shut during the summer surge.
The Golden Gate Restaurant Association, which represents San Francisco restaurants, said in a statement that it was disappointed with the new restrictions.
“We do anticipate immediate negative effects, including more restaurant closures, both shortterm and permanent, significant job losses, and numerous employees losing health insurance coverage,” the association said. The group had supported the city’s pause in allowing increased restaurant capacity earlier this month.