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Six Bay Area jurisdictions to enact strict stay-at-home order ahead of state edict, starting Sunday
Catherine Ho
Dec. 4, 2020 Updated: Dec. 4, 2020 2:59 p.m.
Six Bay Area jurisdictions plan to enact a regional stay-at-home order starting as soon as Sunday, speeding up the timeline on restrictions that otherwise would have gone into place in a couple of weeks under the statewide stay-at-home order Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.
The regional action will apply in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda counties, and the city of Berkeley, the local health officials announced Friday. The order will take effect in Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties Sunday evening. It will take effect in San Francisco, Berkeley and Alameda County on Monday at 12:01 a.m. Marin County will put the restrictions into place on Tuesday at noon.
This preemptive measure in parts of the Bay Area will close outdoor and indoor dining, personal care services such as hair and nail salons, playgrounds, bars and wineries, movie theaters, museums and zoos. It will allow retail, grocery stores and other businesses to remain open but limit capacity at 20%. Restaurants can do takeout and delivery only.
The restrictions are the same as those spelled out in the state order. Only now, they will take effect in the participating Bay Area jurisdictions a couple weeks earlier than they would have been. The order will be in place until Jan. 4.
“The dark COVID winter we feared would come has arrived in the Bay Area,” said Contra Costa County Health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano. “I and other health officers don’t think we can wait for the state’s new restrictions to go into effect later this month. We must act swiftly to save as many lives as we can. This is an emergency.”
The Bay Area region is currently above the 15% intensive care unit hospital bed threshold that triggers the state-mandated stay-at-home order, with 25% of ICU beds available. But Santa Clara County is in particularly bad shape, with only 14% of ICU beds available, according to county data. The six Bay Area jurisdictions are voluntarily moving forward with the regional order to help stifle the recent, steep rise in new coronavirus cases.
San Francisco has 26% of ICU beds available. Health officials say if the current trajectory of case increases continues, the city would start running out of ICU beds on Dec. 26. The number of COVID-19 patients in Bay Area ICUs hit a record high 263 on Thursday, surpassing the previous record of 261 on July 29.
About 12% of cases end up in the hospital. Of those, about 25% to 40% end up in the ICU, estimated Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at UCSF.
Chronicle staffers Dominic Fracassa and Erin Allday contributed to this report.
Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho
www.sfchronicle.com
Six Bay Area jurisdictions to enact strict stay-at-home order ahead of state edict, starting Sunday
Catherine Ho
Dec. 4, 2020 Updated: Dec. 4, 2020 2:59 p.m.
Six Bay Area jurisdictions plan to enact a regional stay-at-home order starting as soon as Sunday, speeding up the timeline on restrictions that otherwise would have gone into place in a couple of weeks under the statewide stay-at-home order Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.
The regional action will apply in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda counties, and the city of Berkeley, the local health officials announced Friday. The order will take effect in Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties Sunday evening. It will take effect in San Francisco, Berkeley and Alameda County on Monday at 12:01 a.m. Marin County will put the restrictions into place on Tuesday at noon.
This preemptive measure in parts of the Bay Area will close outdoor and indoor dining, personal care services such as hair and nail salons, playgrounds, bars and wineries, movie theaters, museums and zoos. It will allow retail, grocery stores and other businesses to remain open but limit capacity at 20%. Restaurants can do takeout and delivery only.
The restrictions are the same as those spelled out in the state order. Only now, they will take effect in the participating Bay Area jurisdictions a couple weeks earlier than they would have been. The order will be in place until Jan. 4.
“The dark COVID winter we feared would come has arrived in the Bay Area,” said Contra Costa County Health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano. “I and other health officers don’t think we can wait for the state’s new restrictions to go into effect later this month. We must act swiftly to save as many lives as we can. This is an emergency.”
The Bay Area region is currently above the 15% intensive care unit hospital bed threshold that triggers the state-mandated stay-at-home order, with 25% of ICU beds available. But Santa Clara County is in particularly bad shape, with only 14% of ICU beds available, according to county data. The six Bay Area jurisdictions are voluntarily moving forward with the regional order to help stifle the recent, steep rise in new coronavirus cases.
San Francisco has 26% of ICU beds available. Health officials say if the current trajectory of case increases continues, the city would start running out of ICU beds on Dec. 26. The number of COVID-19 patients in Bay Area ICUs hit a record high 263 on Thursday, surpassing the previous record of 261 on July 29.
About 12% of cases end up in the hospital. Of those, about 25% to 40% end up in the ICU, estimated Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at UCSF.
Chronicle staffers Dominic Fracassa and Erin Allday contributed to this report.
Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho
Five Bay Area counties to enact strict stay-at-home order ahead of state edict, starting Sunday
Five Bay Area counties on Friday ordered the most severe shelter-in-place directives...
