Bay Area counties to shut down outdoor dining, non-essential businesses - San Francisco Examiner

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San Francisco and other Bay Area counties are speeding up the implementation of restrictions called for in the state’s new stay-at-home order by imposing them on Sunday, shutting down outdoor dining and non-essential businesses.

The counties anticipated having to impose the order announced Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom in mid to late December, which is effective when the intensive care unit capacity in a region’s hospitals drops below 15 percent.

But Bay Area health officers said Friday they didn’t think it wise to wait.

“It takes several weeks for new restrictions to slow rising hospitalizations and waiting until only 15 percent of a region’s ICU beds are available is just too late,” San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragon said in a statement. “Many heavily impacted parts of our region already have less than 15 percent of ICU beds available, and the time to act is now.”

San Francisco joined Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara and the City of Berkeley in implementing a regional stay-at-home order.

Mayor London Breed said it was the right call to opt into the restrictions earlier.

“We have to do everything we can to prevent this from being a holiday season that we look back on as one of sickness and death,” Breed said. “If we wait we are just delaying the inevitable. If we wait one or two more weeks to have these restrictions placed on us, it will just mean our numbers will be higher and harder to bring down.”

The order requires the closure of personal service businesses like hair and nail salons, barbershops and tattoo parlors. Restaurants must cease outdoor dining and only do delivery. Drive in theaters, outdoor playgrounds and skate parks must close as well. Grocery stores must reduce indoor capacity to 20 percent, from the existing 50 percent restriction. Other retail like hardware stores and bookstores can remain open with the 20 percent capacity restriction.

Hotels will have to stop taking tourist reservations but can book stays for essential workers who are traveling for work purposes and provide rooms for those who need to isolate or quarantine.

The order in San Francisco goes into effect on Sunday at 10 p.m.

Two of the counties will have the new regional stay-at-home order go into effect later than Sunday. Alameda County’s is scheduled to take effect on Monday and Marin County’s on Tuesday. The new restrictions will remain in place until January 4, 2021.

Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, said in a statement that The City’s “move to ‘jump’ the state is very difficult for our industry.”

“Although our foremost concern remains with the health and well-being of our community, we want to reiterate that with only takeout and delivery as options, we expect immediate negative effects to our industry including restaurant hibernations and/or more permanent closures, which will lead to increased unemployment,” Thomas said.

San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management warned Thursday on Twitter that the latest COVID-19 surge “is the worst yet in San Francisco.”

This #COVID19 surge is the worst yet in San Francisco. Within weeks, we may not be able to care for people at our hospitals. Unlike previous surges, every hospital in California is under stress. There is no place to transfer people if we run out of beds. Stay home, save lives. pic.twitter.com/PpaehlMptX

— San Francisco Department of Emergency Management😷 (@SF_emergency) December 4, 2020

“Within weeks, we may not be able to care for people at our hospitals,” DEM wrote. “Unlike previous surges, every hospital in California is under stress.”

California saw 22,019 newly diagnosed cases of COVID-19 Friday and is experiencing an average of 15,306 new cases per day over a two week period. Deaths increased to 145 Friday, up from the prior day’s 113.

COVID-19 patients in the state’s hospitals continued to increase Friday. There were reported 9,065 patients hospitalized and 2,152 patients in intensive care unit beds. On Thursday, there was a reported 86 percent increase in hospitalizations over a two week period for a total of 8,831 patients, and a 67 percent increase of patients in intensive care unit beds for a total of 2,066.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

jsabatini@sfexaminer.com

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