Bay Area Lockdown Begins Sunday at 10pm (SF, Santa Clara & Contra Costa Counties)

San Francisco in tandem with the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara along with the City of Berkeley announced Friday afternoon that they will pre-emptively go into the “Regional Lockdown” even before the State of California requires it.

The state was originally going to mandate the lockdown when the region reached 15% capacity of ICUs. As of December 4, San Francisco has 34% ICU capacity which is considered “Meeting Target”

Read the full press release | See updates at “Reopening San Francisco”

In these counties the shutdown order begins Sunday, December 6 at 10pm.

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• San Francisco COVID Cases & Latest Stats (Updated Daily) – 12/4/20
• New Lockdown Likely for Bay Area “Mid-December” – 12/3/20
• More Rollbacks Coming This Week to SF – 12/1/20
• LA Banned Outdoor Dining. SF Says it Won’t – 11/30/20

That means that a variety of activities are banned until at least January 4th, but may be extended. Please note that some counties have slightly different sectors being banned.

As of 10 p.m. on Sunday, December 6, San Francisco will close all personal services, outdoor dining, public outdoor playgrounds, outdoor museums, zoos and aquariums, drive-in theaters, and open-air tour busses and boats.

When Are Counties Going into Lockdown?

The state of California will forces counties into lockdown once their “region” has an ICU capacity of 15% or less.

Self-Imposed Lockdown Starting Sunday 12/6 at 10pm (unless otherwise noted)

• San Francisco
• Marin County – Noon Tuesday, December 8.
• Alameda County – 12:01am Monday, December 7
• City of Berkeley – 12:01am Monday, December 7
• Contra Costa County
• Santa Clara County

Not Yet – Waiting for State mandate (expected Mid-December)
As of December 6, 2020 the Bay Area has an ICU capacity of 24.1% (up from 21.7%) – Check for updates. If 15% is reached, then the region has 24 hours to institute lockdown

• San Mateo County
• Sonoma County
• Napa County
• Solano County
• Santa Cruz County
• Monterey County

Additionally, San Francisco will halt indoor limited personal training in gyms and limit outdoor gyms and outdoor fitness classes to a maximum group size of 12 people at a time, including instructors and participants. Low contact retail such as pet grooming, electronics or shoe repair services, may only operate in a curbside drop-off context.

All other retail, including grocery stores must reduce capacity to 20%, and all indoor businesses that are open to the public, such as retail stores, must create a metering system to manage and enforce indoor customer capacity. This metering system must be in place no later 10 p.m. on Sunday December 6, when other amended order becomes operative.

Hotels may remain open for essential workers and critical infrastructure support, including isolation and quarantine. Out of town visitors who are not essential workers or here for critical infrastructure support must stay in the hotel for the full amount of time required to quarantine. Real Estate viewings must take place virtually. The City will limit any outdoor gatherings to members of the same household up to 12 people.

Lockdown Quick Overview

What’s Banned

• Personal Services (Hair, nail salons, massages) even outdoor operations required to close
• Outdoor dining (Take out and delivery still allowed)
• Zoos and outdoor museums (Outdoor botanical gardens and historic sites may remain open.)
• Drive in theaters and performances
• Outdoor playgrounds – public playgrounds including climbing structures and walls, slides swings, sand pits, etc. must close.
• Skate parks, roller and ice skating rinks, batting cages, go kart racing and miniature golf must close.
• Open air bus and boat operations
• Indoor gyms. Limited 1:1 personal training within gyms and fitness centers that was allowed under the previous health order must cease
• Outdoor gatherings with more than one household – Small outdoor gatherings, must limit themselves to members of 1 household with a maximum number of 12 people (down from up to three households or no more than 25 people). Face coverings must remain on at all times and no eating or drinking is allowed.

What’s Still Allowed (with restrictions)

• All retail must reduce capacity to 20% including grocery stores
• Hotels can only accept guests for essential workers
• outdoor gyms limited to 12 people
• Golf and tennis allowed.

This is an evolving news story and more updates are expected.

Lockdown Full Details

What’s Banned

• Personal services. Establishments offering personal care services including hair and nail salons, barbers, tattoo, piercing, estheticians and massage must cease operations, including both indoor and outdoor operations.
• Outdoor dining. Restaurants and any other establishments offering meal service, may only operate for delivery or take-out. Eating and drinking on the premises is prohibited.
• Outdoor museums, aquariums, and zoos. Outdoor installations or exhibits associated with museums, aquariums, or zoos may not allow entrance to visitors. Outdoor botanical gardens and historic sites may remain open.
• Indoor gyms. Limited 1:1 personal training within gyms and fitness centers that was allowed under the previous health order must cease, but may take place outdoors (see below).
• *Drive-in gatherings. Drive in theaters and other performances delivered in a drive in context must cease – *ONLY FOR SAN FRANCISCO + CONTRA COSTA COUNTY (we haven’t been made aware of any other counties banning drive-in gatherings so far.)
• Outdoor playgrounds. Public playgrounds including climbing structures and walls, slides swings, sand pits, etc. must close.
• Outdoor family entertainment centers. Outdoor family entertainment centers including skate parks, roller and ice skating rinks, batting cages, go kart racing and miniature golf must close.
• Open-air bus and boat operators. Operators of open-air busses offering sight seeing and other tour services and open-air boat excursions, including leisure and fishing expeditions, must cease operations.

The following activities will be required to restrict their operations:

• Low Contact Retail. Service oriented retail such as dog groomers, electronics repair services and shoe repair services can operate in a curbside drop off context only.
• Retail. All retail establishments such as shopping centers, hardware stores, convenience stores, equipment rental, and specialty shops, and including standalone grocery stores, must reduce capacity to 20% (down from 25% and 50% in the case of grocery stores) and implement a metering system (see below).

The following activities will be required to proceed with modifications in place:

• Hotels and lodging. Hotels may only accept reservations from essential workers travelling for work purposes or to support critical infrastructure including accommodations for isolation and quarantine purposes. If an individual who is not travelling for essential purposes makes a reservation, it must be at least for the number of days required for quarantine. The persons identified in the reservation must quarantine in the hotel or lodging facility for the entirety of the time required.
• Small gatherings. Small outdoor gatherings, must limit themselves to members of 1 household with a maximum number of 12 people (down from up to three households or no more than 25 people). Face coverings must remain on at all times and no eating or drinking is allowed.
• Outdoor gyms. Outdoor gym or fitness center activities as well as outdoor fitness in-person group classes (such as boot camps, dance, yoga, tai-chi, etc.) are limited to groups of 12 people, including personnel, and must maintain strict distance and face covering requirements. Running groups are prohibited.
• Youth sports. Youth sports activities affiliated with a childcare program, Out of School Time program, or other organized and supervised youth sports program may continue operating outdoors only without competitions or spectators and with strict social distancing and face covering requirements in place.

• Indoor activities open to public. Any establishment allowing members of the public to access indoor areas, including shopping centers, grocery stores, corner stores, financial services, hardware stores, pharmacies, etc. must establish a metering system to monitor capacity thresholds and ensure capacity does not exceed limits. In effect, a business will need to assign a specific staff person to monitor the number of people in the establishment and ensure that the 20% capacity threshold is maintained at all times. This system must be in place as soon as possible and no later than Sunday, December 6^th at 10 p.m. when the amended order becomes operative. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.

• Adult Recreation. No/low contact adult recreational activities such as golf, tennis, pickle ball, and bocce ball may continue outdoors but must be limited to participants within the same household.