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Jurisdictions in the Six Bay area plan to enact a regional stay-at-home order as early as Sunday, speeding up the schedule of restrictions ahead of a statewide stay-at-home order Governor Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.
The regional action will apply in the counties of San Francisco, Santa Clara, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda, as well as the city of Berkeley, local health officials said Friday. Most will adopt the order on Sunday. But Alameda County will put it in place on Monday and Marin County on Tuesday.
This preventative measure in parts of the Bay Area will close outdoor and indoor restaurants, personal care services such as hair and nail salons, playgrounds, bars and wineries, movie theaters, museums and zoos. It will allow retail, grocery stores and other businesses to remain open but will limit capacity to 20%. Restaurants can only do take-out.
The move means the participating Bay Area jurisdictions would be under order of the state weeks earlier than they would have been. The order will be in effect until January 4.
“The grim COVID winter that we feared is coming has arrived in the Bay Area,” said Dr Chris Farnitano, Contra Costa County Health Officer. “Myself and other health workers don’t think we can wait for the new state restrictions to take effect later this month. We need to act quickly to save as many lives as possible. It’s an emergency.”
The Bay Area region is currently above the 15% threshold for intensive care unit hospital beds that triggers the state-imposed stay-at-home order, with 25% of intensive care beds available. But Santa Clara County is particularly in bad shape, with just 14% of intensive care beds available, according to county data. The six Bay Area jurisdictions are voluntarily moving forward with the regional order to help quell the recent sharp rise in new coronavirus cases.
San Francisco has 26% of the critical care beds available. Health officials say if the current trajectory of increasing cases continues, the city would start to run out of ICU beds on December 26. The number of COVID-19 patients in Bay Area ICUs reached a record high of 263 on Thursday, surpassing the previous high of 261 on July 29.
About 12% of cases end up in hospital. Of these, about 25% to 40% end up in intensive care, estimated Dr George Rutherford, epidemiologist at UCSF.
Chronicle staff Dominic Fracassa and Erin Allday contributed to this report.
Catherine Ho is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Cat_Ho
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