Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360].
Beginning Thursday, May 6, San Francisco will reopen bars and indoor family entertainment activities, as well as outdoor community sporting events and indoor saunas and steam rooms, after the city moved to a "Yellow" level Tuesday in terms of restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thus, one of the most important cities in the state of California will relax the guidelines for a variety of activities, including fitness, dining, offices, meetings and receptions.
The announcement was made by Mayor London N. Breed and Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax, who detailed that San Francisco will reopen and expand additional state-permitted activities for counties with minimal COVID-19 transmission.
Based on the state's plan for a safer economy, San Francisco will open the few remaining closed sectors and expand others with some exceptions, as the city remains aligned with what is allowed by the state.
And that is because, as of today, May 4, San Francisco has met the state's criteria to advance to the yellow level based on its COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and other health metrics.
With this measure, San Francisco will expand nearly all activities to 50 percent of indoor capacity, unless the state requires more restrictive capacity limits.
"This is an incredible milestone for us as we move forward on our road to recovery, and it is possible because of how well we are doing in our efforts to vaccinate everyone we can in this city and how well the people of San Francisco have finished listening to public health officials," said Mayor Breed.
"Level Yellow means that there are no longer any businesses that must keep their doors closed in this city, and it means that we continue to allow more activities to take place safely with more people," he added.
He also said that in order to maintain this progress, it is necessary for all San Francisco residents over the age of 16, and hopefully soon, over the age of 12, to be vaccinated.
"While we know we all need to continue to be careful, the more people who are protected, the more we can do," he stressed.
In addition to the expansion of activities, San Francisco is reopening for the first time businesses that have been closed.
This reopening will include bars with indoor service at 25 percent capacity for up to 100 people, indoor family entertainment such as roller and ice skating rinks, game rooms, playgrounds and golf at 50 percent capacity.
In addition to libraries at 50 percent capacity, indoor saunas, steam baths, and Jacuzzis at 25 percent capacity.
On the other hand, community sporting events organized outdoors may resume with capacity limits of 1,500 to 3,000 people depending on the vaccination/probation status of the participants.
In addition, as announced on Monday, May 3, San Francisco will relax mask requirements in outdoor settings with fewer than 300 people, including outdoor dining, consistent with CDC and new guidance issued by the California Department of Public Health.
San Francisco's new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have remained at a consistently low level since early March 2021, and began to decline again in late April, allowing the city to meet the criteria for level yellow.
Right now, San Francisco is averaging 26 new cases per day, which is the lowest level since June 2020, before the first "summer surge." Meanwhile, for the first time in more than a year, the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 has dropped below 20.
Currently, 72 percent of San Francisco's eligible population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, nearly double the percentage of people vaccinated six weeks ago when the city was moving to the orange level.
In addition, 86 percent of city residents 65 years and older have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 73 percent are fully vaccinated.
