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SF Halts Indoor Dining (Again) Starting Nov. 14

Due to rising Covid-19 cases, SF rolls back “higher risk” activities starting Saturday.
By - posted 11/10/2020 No Comment

Due to an increase in COVID-19 cases, San Francisco will roll back the reopening of indoor dining, reduce capacity of fitness centers and movie theaters, and will pause approval of plans for indoor instruction for high schools.

The City will adjust its reopening due to a significant and rapid increase in COVID-19 case rates in San Francisco, coupled with the current increase in cases and hospitalizations in California and across the United States.These changes will go into effect at 11:59 pm on Friday, November 13, 2020.

Read the full press release.

San Francisco is rolling back these activities in an effort to contain the spread of the virus by focusing on higher risk indoor activities and other behaviors that increase the concentration of aerosols. The Department of Public Health will continue to closely monitor the City’s case count, infection rate, and hospitalization rate in order to determine how quickly we can flatten the curve and determine when we can resume safe reopening.

Since October 2, San Francisco has experienced a 250% increase in COVID-19 cases. The rolling back of certain businesses and activities is necessary to mitigate the aggressive growth of the virus that would cost lives and threaten the capacity of our health care system. This step is aimed to minimize the activities that are known to be of higher risk for increasing the spread of the virus – particularly indoor activities, high traffic activities, and those that allow for mask removal or increase the production of aerosols, such as physical activity and eating.

San Francisco is reducing the capacity at which fitness centers and movie theaters are allowed to operate. Indoor dining will need to close at this time. High schools that have not yet opened will remain closed for any indoor instruction, though DPH will work with high schools that want to reopen educational programming in an outdoor setting.

One of the key indicators of COVID-19 prevalence in the city, the number of new cases per day per 100,000 people, has more than doubled over the last three weeks from a low of 3.7 cases per 100,000 people to 9 cases per 100,000 people.

The Department of Public Health will continue to monitor the City’s COVID-19 Key Public Health Indicators and other information to determine whether the infection rate is stabilizing and when the City can resume reopening. The City strongly encourages San Franciscans to avoid gatherings, wear face coverings when leaving home, and keep their distance from other people, and to get tested for COVID-19 if they feel sick.

The following activities will halt indoor operations until further notice:

  • Indoor dining at restaurants or bars serving meals in any context including standalone restaurants, food courts in shopping centers, and dining establishments in hotels, museums or other venues.

The following activities will pause until further notice:

  • High schools that are not already open with approved plans. (Switching to outdoor instruction within certain parameters).

The following activities will be required to reduce capacity to a maximum of 50 people indoors:

  • Fitness centers may remain open to the lesser of 25% capacity or 50 people (down from 100).
  • Movie theaters may remain open to the lesser of 25% capacity or 50 people (down from 100).

All other businesses and activities that are currently allowed may continue operating at this time, including outdoor dining and take-out, elementary and middle schools, offices, retail shopping, personal services, and cultural and family activities such as museums and aquariums.

The Department of Public Health will monitor the Health Indicators, the risk of specific activities, the estimated reproductive rate of the virus, the regional data and the State’s actions in determining when and how to move forward, pause, or dial back reopening. More information about San Francisco’s reopening timeline can be found at https://sf.gov/step-by-step/reopening-san-francisco.

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