Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
The city of San Francisco could impose a curfew starting tomorrow, after a spike in new cases of COVID-19, which could bring the city back to purple.
San Francisco City and County Health Director Grant Colfax said at a news conference that the current case rate puts them "on the trajectory of being at the purple level as soon as Sunday."
In that regard, he added that, when that time comes the limited stay order imposed by the state will have to be complied with. "And when we are assigned at the purple level the state will need to back off on reopenings."
"Just three weeks ago we were at a less restrictive yellow level, but now we are on track to be at the most restrictive level, purple. This is indicative of how quickly the virus is spreading," he said.
According to Johns Hopkins University, as of Saturday, more than 11 million 980 thousand cases have been reported in the U.S., while the number of deaths stands at 255,98 thousand people.
In California there are 1,89,000 cases and 18,640 deaths, while in San Francisco there have been 14,251 deaths as of Saturday, while the number of people killed is 156.
Colfax said that in the week beginning Oct. 12, 217 new cases of COVID-19 were reported, and a month later, in the week beginning Nov. 16, the number had reached 768.
"If we continue on this trajectory, almost four times the number of cases in a month, our health care system could soon be struggling to deal with the burden of the virus, we will have many more people in the hospital and diagnosed with COVID-19."
It should be noted that at the purple level businesses with indoor operations, such as movie theaters and museums, must move everything outdoors or even close. In San Francisco, this would include businesses like movie theaters, gyms, museums and churches.
The city would also be required to implement a curfew, a new state-issued purple level requirement beginning Thursday. The "limited order of Stay at Home"requires work and non-essential meetings to stop from 10pm to 5am.
According to the stay-at-home order that was pushed through during the spring flattened the case curve in California, as reduced movement and mixing of people dramatically decreases the spread of the virus, hospitalizations and deaths.
So taking stricter temporary measures could also help prevent future closures.
EEJ
