San Francisco News

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced a new health order Friday requiring city residents and workers to wear face coverings at essential businesses and on public transportation. The order goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, but will not be enforced until April 22. Transportation workers and other essential employees who interact with the public must also wear face coverings. RT san francisco north beach coronavirus A man wearing a face mask walks across the street in San Francisco. San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced a new health order Friday requiring city residents and workers to wear face coverings at essential businesses and on public transportation. The order goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, but will not be enforced until April 22. Transportation workers and other essential employees who interact with the public must also wear face coverings. Businesses are also required to take “reasonable steps” to bar entry and refuse service to th

A new analysis Monday shows California is testing a smaller share of its people for the potentially deadly COVID-19 coronavirus disease than almost any other state — something that could delay lifting the stay-home order that has shuttered businesses across the Golden State. California has conducted 7.1 tests per 1,000 residents, according to an Associated Press analysis of data compiled by the independent COVID Tracking Project. Only Texas and Virginia, which conducted 6.4 per 1,000 residents, and Kansas, which conducted 6.2 per 1,000 residents, tested a smaller share of their people. That’s almost half the rate in Pennsylvania, 12.4 per 1,000 residents, and Florida, 12.2 per 1,000 residents, and a third the rate in New York, 31.6 per 1,000 residents, the second-highest in the U.S. behind Rhode Island, with 32.8 per 1,000 residents. Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged during his daily news briefing Monday that testing rates are short of where they need to be in California, but

City announces plans for contact tracing as it becomes 2nd in Bay Area to cross 1,000 cases San Francisco on Wednesday became the second county in the Bay Area to report its thousandth confirmed case of COVID-19, as well as two more casualties from the deadly disease. Health officials reported 26 new cases — the same number as neighboring San Mateo County on Wednesday — bringing the city’s total to 1,013. Two more San Franciscans succumbed to the virus, bringing the city’s death toll to 17. Only Santa Clara County has more confirmed cases, but San Francisco has reported fewer fatalities than Santa Clara (60), Alameda (23) and San Mateo (21). The city had not yet updated its dashboard with information on hospitalizations or demographics, but it did report that it conducted its 9,000th test Tuesday. Labs in the city have conducted more than 400 tests per day on five of the past six weekdays, with about 11% coming back positive. “As much as San Francisco has been a model

During a news conference last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly told the state's residents that internal modeling suggests California will hit its "peak" on the curve of the coronavirus pandemic sometime in mid-to-late May, despite widespread social distancing measures. "We know that the bending or flattening of the curve means two things," Ghaly said. "It means our peak comes down, but it also means it goes further out. We move that lower and further out. So our thinking around May, and late May in particular, means it follows this idea of flattening. It's not just a reduction down, it's moving it out." This projection is not in line with other models for California, including the highly influential IHME model used by policymakers at the federal level. The IHME model — one that also takes into account a state's social distancing efforts — projects that Californ

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- As the  novel coronavirus  continues to spread in San Francisco, Mayor London Breed confirmed an outbreak of 70 new positive cases at a San Francisco homeless shelter. In a Friday afternoon press conference, Breed said 68 homeless individuals and two staff members at MSC South have tested positive to COVID-19. The city is using hotel rooms to isolate those who have been exposed, Breed said. One person is being treated in the hospital. MSC South is the city's largest homeless shelter, located at Fifth and Bryant streets, with a 340-bed capacity. The shelter is being transitioned from a homeless shelter into a medical care facility to take care of coronavirus patients and staffed by Department of Public Health nurses and doctors. The source of the outbreak dates back to Sunday when two guests at the shelter tested positive, explained Dr. Grant Colfax, head of the city's Department of Public Health. All guests and staff were tested f

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – San Francisco’s mayor says that beginning today, first responders can get tested for coronavirus at a drive-thru facility at Piers 30 and 32. Mayor London Breed also says the city has secured hotel rooms for many of those working on the front lines of the pandemic. “They are taking care of us so it’s important that we take care of them and one of the most basic things that we can do is to make sure they have access to testing,” Mayor Breed said.  Mayor London Breed announced that the drive thru testing will first concentrate on fire, police, paramedics, and health care workers but will soon expand to those other essential city workers, such as Muni drivers. “Who are interacting with the public more so than most others,” Breed said. The city has also contracted with two hotels with nearly 900 rooms combined for health care workers on the front lines of this crisis. “It’s critically important that they be able to remain here and not potentiall

A vacant Union Square due to San Francisco's shelter in place order. William J Simpson/ZUMA Wire For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones' newsletters. Why has San Francisco thus far been spared the worst of COVID-19’s impact? On Monday, the city reported 374 cases, with six deaths, a fraction of the state’s 7,414 cases. Doctors have yet to see the surge in coronavirus cases that has overwhelmed hospitals in New York City, which has 38,087 confirmed cases and 914 deaths in all. Density might explain some of the discrepancies with New York City. NYC is the densest big city in the country, at 28,000 people per square mile; San Francisco, the second-densest city, has 18,000 per square mile. But there are other factors that may have dampened the  San Francisco News effects of the virus: early, aggressive interventions by political and public health officials to contain the spread of the coronavirus and steel the system a

Mayor Faulconer on Wednesday announced he is directing all vacant city property to be used to support an expected surge in COVID-19 patients. “Hospitals will need all the help our community can offer,” he said. “We need all hands on deck.” The properties involved could include city recreation centres, libraries, which are all closed, and even city parking lots, he said. They could be used as field hospitals, space  San Francisco News to conduct tests, and anything the state, county or hospitals need, Faulconer said. An example of this is the SDCCU Stadium parking lot being used by the county Health and Human Services as a mobile testing center, the mayor said. Earlier Wednesday, the Convention Center opened as a shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Some 400 people have moved there from the city’s downtown bridge shelters. The next step is to move more homeless individuals downtown from other bridge shelters, Faulconer said. The mayor said he was in ta