Millions in San Francisco Bay Area to face stay-home-order starting Sunday

Millions of people in the San Francisco Bay Area will go under a new stay-at-home order beginning this weekend as coronavirus cases surge and hospitals fill up, health officials announced on Friday.

On Thursday California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, launched a regional stay-at-home order pegged to intensive-care unit capacity at hospitals. Once the ICU capacity of a region falls below 15%, a stay-at-home order will be triggered, with the vast majority of California expected to meet that criteria within the next few days.

Q&A: California’s new stay-at-home order explained

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The Bay Area was not expected to hit that threshold until mid-December, but San Francisco and four other Bay Area counties – Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and Santa Clara – as well as the city of Berkeley have decided to pre-emptively adopt the order in an effort to curb the surge.

London Breed
(@LondonBreed)

San Francisco, along with other Bay Area counties, is opting in to the Governor’s regional Stay at Home Order effective Sunday at 10pm.

We’re on pace to run out of hospital beds to care for patients the day after Christmas. We must turn this around now. https://t.co/F0qwFnCb9e

December 4, 2020

The order represents the most serious restrictions the state has put in place since the spring. They require restaurants to close to indoor and outdoor dining. Bars and wineries must also close, along with hair and nail salons and playgrounds. Retail stores and shopping centers can operate with just 20% customer capacity. Gatherings of any size with people outside of one’s household are banned.

The changes will take effect on Sunday and last through 4 January. Officials said the region’s hospital system would have been overwhelmed before the end of December, when Newsom’s order would apply.

“We don’t think we can wait for the state’s new restrictions to go into effect later this month. This is an emergency,“ said Chris Farnitano, the Contra Costa county health officer.

“Given the steep increase in Covid-19 cases in San Francisco, we must do whatever is necessary in order to get the virus under control,” said London Breed, San Francisco’s mayor. “This is about protecting people’s lives. We see how quickly it moves and how devastating the effects. We need to do everything we can to prevent our hospital system from becoming overwhelmed and to save lives.”

The other four regions of the state – northern California, the greater Sacramento area, southern California and the San Joaquin valley – are expected to reach the below-15% threshold within the next few days.

The new stay-at-home order will cut sharply into the most profitable shopping season and threaten financial ruin for businesses already struggling after 10 months of on-again, off-again restrictions and slow sales because of the pandemic.

The Associated Press contributed reporting