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San Francisco is extending its local stay-at-home order and travel quarantine, both of which could have been lifted as early as next week, due to the high number of cases and concerns about the availability of intensive care in the near future, public health officials said. Thursday.
The travel quarantine and stay-at-home order will remain in effect indefinitely. Officials said they would reassess end dates in a few weeks, after the predicted Christmas and New Year’s coronavirus outbreaks have passed.
The travel quarantine requires people entering the city from outside the Greater Bay Area to stay at home for 10 days. The previous order was due to expire on January 4.
The extension of the order is meant to protect San Francisco from the more dramatic surges occurring in other parts of California and the United States, public health officials said. They are also keeping the quarantine in place to avoid importing a new, more contagious strain of the coronavirus that has been found in some areas, including southern California.
The stay-at-home warrant was put in place by San Francisco on December 6, and then ordered by the state on December 17, when the Bay Area’s critical care availability fell below 15%. The state order was due to go into effect for at least three weeks and could have been lifted as early as January 8, but San Francisco officials have said that will not happen.
The availability of intensive care for the entire Bay Area hit a new low of 7.5% on Wednesday, although San Francisco fared better than the rest of the region. More than 200 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 in San Francisco on Tuesday, including 57 in intensive care.
“We have been proactive in putting in place the stay at home order and the travel quarantine to protect the San Franciscans and in the hope that by acting quickly we could flatten the curve and reopen more quickly,” he said. said the Mayor of London Breed in a statement. “It seems to be working, but we need more time to determine that we are going in the right direction and that the December break does not set us back.”
Erin Allday is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @erinallday
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