SF Announces Lots of New Updates for Reopening

San Francisco Continues Reopening with Expanded Business Operations and Activities

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Now that San Francisco is assigned to the State’s Yellow tier, the City will move forward on reopening offices and expanding capacity at business, including fitness, dining, places of worship, personal services, recreation, and more

Mayor London N. Breed and Director of Public Health Dr. Grant Colfax today announced San Francisco is continuing its measured reopening of the economy. Beginning Tuesday, October 27, the City will reopen “non-essential” offices at limited capacity. San Francisco will also reopen indoor climbing walls and will move forward on expanding other businesses and activities. In addition, San Francisco updated its timeline for opening additional activities over the coming weeks.

Reopening Highlights / Announced October 20th

• October 27th
  • “Non Essential” offices, Climbing Gyms can reopen at 25% capacity.
  • Indoor gyms can increase indoor capacity to 25% capacity (still no cardio classes)
• November 3rd
  • Indoor pools and bowling alleys can reopen. Indoor gyms can open locker rooms and showers
  • Restaurants can increase indoor capacity to 50%
  • Indoor places of worship can increase indoor capacity to 50%
  • Outdoor worship & political protests can have 300 people
  • Indoor museums, zoos & aquariums can increase capacity to 50%
  • Movie theaters can increase capacity to 50% capacity (still no food/beverage concessions)
  • Live performances allowed at drive-in setting (up to 6 performers)
• “Mid-November” – Tentative Goal
  • Bars/wineries/breweries not serving food can re-open for outdoor operations. (more details to come)

These next steps come as the State assigned San Francisco to Yellow on its tiered reopening system, based on San Francisco’s COVID-19 case and infection rates and equity metric. Since the State introduced the tiered system on August 28th, San Francisco has had a deliberate approach to reopening that has resulted in San Francisco being the only county in the Bay Area placed in the Yellow tier and the only urban area to be at Yellow.

See the latest press release | See updated guidelines as of Oct. 20

San Francisco’s deliberate and measured reopening has resulted in San Francisco steadily reducing the rate of infection that has resulted in Yellow tier status. As such, on Tuesday, October 27th the San Francisco Department of Public Health will issue final health and safety guidelines to reopen non-essential offices at limited capacity and with specific requirements. Indoor climbing gyms will also be able to resume with the same capacity as fitness centers, and personal services can allow limited mask removal for services such as those provided by estheticians. Additionally, fitness centers and institutes of higher education will be able to increase capacity.

San Francisco has also set a timeline for opening new activities and expanding previously reopened businesses and activities over the following weeks. San Francisco expects to reopen indoor pools and bowling alleys, with required safety protocols, on November 3rd. Additionally, the City plans to increase capacity allowances to 50% for indoor dining, places of worship, theaters, museums, zoos, and aquariums. Schools will continue to reopen and some high schools are on track to return to in-person learning in November.

San Franciscans have done a good job following public health guidance and making smart decisions to keep our community safe, and we’re now assigned to the State’s Yellow tier. This means we can continue making progress on reopening, but we must remain vigilant.

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) October 20, 2020

The reopening of businesses and activities will increase travel and interaction throughout the city, which risks increasing community spread of the virus and an increase in cases. Public health officials will regularly assess the Key Public Health Indicators, particularly new positive case counts and hospitalizations to ensure San Francisco has the necessary resources available for those who contract COVID-19. The phasing of additional activities is structured to maximize the City’s ability to track these local health indicators and ensure that San Francisco continues to manage its risk and to protect public health.

While San Francisco recognizes the State’s thresholds, the City will continue on a reopening path based on its local health indicators and unique challenges and successes of our local reopening. Reopening is dependent upon San Francisco’s Key Public Health Indicators remaining stable or improving, and the plan is subject to change. Following the reopening activities below, and pursuant to the health indicators remaining stable or improving, San Francisco will assess the possibility of further expanding office, retail, and other lower-risk activities.

San Francisco’s reopening plan is outlined below and is available online at sf.gov/reopening. All sectors that will be reopened or expanded should check San Francisco’s Reopening page for updated requirements and guidelines that pertain to them.

New Updates Announced on October 20th

Non-essential Offices

Starting on Tuesday, October 27^th, non-essential offices can reopen at 25% capacity. Offices with fewer than 20 employees can reopen beyond 25%, to the extent that space allows employees to maintain social distancing. Specific ventilation guidelines must be met to the greatest extent possible. Under the new health guidance, employers must conduct a health check of employees each day that they report to the office. If San Francisco’s case rates remain stable or continue to improve for at least 30 days following reopening on October 27, the City will consider further expanding office capacity to 50%.

Climbing Gyms

Starting on Tuesday, October 27^th, indoor climbing gyms and climbing walls within fitness centers can reopen at 25% capacity with specific sanitation and staffing protocols in place. All individuals must wear face coverings at all times.

Expanded Activities Resuming October 27^th

In addition to non-essential offices and climbing gyms, San Francisco is moving forward on expanding the following activities on Tuesday, October 27^th:

• Indoor fitness centers can increase their indoor capacity to 25%, without cardio or aerobic classes.
• Some indoor personal services that require limited face covering removal including services provided by estheticians, waxing, and skin treatments.
• Institutes of higher education can increase capacity of outdoor classes to 25 people (including instructors) and can request an exception to the 2-hour limit on indoor classes.

New Activities on November 3^rd

• Indoor pools.
• Indoor bowling alleys.
• Indoor fitness centers, including those in hotels, can open their locker rooms and showers.

Expanded Activities on November 3^rd

• Dining establishments, including those within hotels, shopping centers and museums, can increase their indoor capacity to 50% up to 200 people, and with a maximum time limit per table seating of 3 hours.
• Indoor worship can expand their capacity to 50%, up to 200 people.
• Outdoor worship or political protests can expand to 300 people, with face coverings and distancing.
• Indoor museums, zoos, and aquariums can increase their capacity to 50%.
• Movie theaters can increase their capacity to 50% up to 200 people, without food or beverage concessions.
• Allow some types of live performances with up to six performers to take place in a drive-in setting.
• Film productions can expand indoor activities and allow for removal of face coverings under specific guidelines and can expand outdoor activities to up to 50 people.

GOAL: mid-November

• Bars not serving food can re-open for outdoor operations, with specific health and safety protocols that will be forthcoming.

Reopening of Schools – Ongoing

As state and local COVID-19 indicators permit, San Francisco schools may now resume in-person learning with approved safety plans in place. San Francisco’s approach to the reopening process for San Francisco TK-12 schools (transitional kindergarten through 12th grade) prioritizes the reopening of younger grades for in-person learning. As many as 114 private, parochial or charters schools have requested applications for in-person learning this fall. Almost 92 schools have submitted applications and 56 schools have been approved for reopening. The applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis.

All San Francisco schools must meet minimum standards required by the state and DPH before resuming in-person learning. This includes providing detailed plans on how they will ensure adequate testing and contact tracing for their staff and students. Schools will work with DPH to meet all the requirements for the safest reopening. The school reopening dashboard identifies the schools that have begun this process by sending an initial letter of interest to DPH to reopen, and shows where each school is in the approval process, including completion of an on-site assessment.

Although additional indoor activities are being allowed, it is important to remember that generally outdoor options remain safer because the COVID-19 virus travels in the air and collects indoors. Older adults and those with COVID-19 risk factors should avoid indoor crowds. All San Franciscans must do their part to limit the spread of COVID-19, including face coverings, social distancing, hand washing, and avoiding gatherings.