Bay Area counties to enact stay-at-home order ahead of state mandate
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Golden Gate Park. Photo: Justin Sullivan via Getty
Counties around the San Francisco Bay Area will adopt California’s new regional stay-at-home order amid surges in cases and ICU hospitalizations, health officials said Friday.
The big picture: California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a three-week stay-at-home order on Thursday that would go into effect in regions with less than 15% ICU capacity. Despite the Bay Area’s current 25.3% ICU capacity, health officials from Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco and the city of Berkeley are moving ahead with a shelter-in-place mandate in the hopes of reducing risk.
- The order will go into effect on Monday for Alameda, Tuesday for Marin and Sunday for all other counties. It will remain in place through at least Jan. 4.
The new order will temporarily close:
- Outdoor dining, though take-out, pick-up and delivery will still be permitted.
- Indoor and outdoor playgrounds.
- Indoor recreational facilities.
- Hair salons and barbershops.
- Personal care services.
- Museums, zoos and aquariums.
- Movie theaters.
- Wineries.
- Bars, breweries and distilleries.
- Family entertainment centers.
- Cardrooms and satellite wagering.
- Limited services not included in critical infrastructure.
- Amusement parks.
Childcare and pre-K, non-urgent medical and dental care as well as schools already providing in-person learning can remain open if a remote option is not possible and appropriate preventative measures are implemented.
Sectors that can remain open but require additional restrictions include:
- Outdoor recreational facilities.
- Retail and shopping centers.
- Hotels and lodging.
- Offices.
- Places of worship and political expression.
- Entertainment production including professional sports.
What they’re saying: “We are not islands, and acting together enables us to better more completely protect the public and everyone that we collectively serve,” Santa Clara County Health Officer Sara Cody said in a press release Friday.
- “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 Tomás Aragon added. “Many heavily impacted parts of our region already have less than 15 percent of ICU beds available, and the time to act is now.”
Context: The city of San Francisco imposed a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew on Nov. 28 in light of rising case counts. It is set to continue until Dec. 21.
