US San Francisco to adjust reopening due to COVID-19 surge

SAN FRANCISCO -- US San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Monday announced the city will adjust its reopening of businesses and activities due to the continued increase in COVID-19 cases, which has resulted in the state of California placing the city in the more restrictive Red Tier.

San Francisco will temporarily roll back the reopening of all non-essential offices and will reduce the capacity of fitness centers and gyms to a maximum capacity of 10 percent. These changes will go into effect on Tuesday.

San Francisco is rolling back these activities in compliance with California's Blueprint for Safer Economy tier assignments, the announcement said.

San Francisco, the Bay Area, and California are continuing to experience a rapid and significant increase in COVID-19 cases. To adapt to the widespread rise in cases, the state has notified the counties that it is changing its reopening tier assignments. On Monday, 41 of the 58 counties will be assigned to the most restrictive Purple Tier, which prohibits many businesses and activities.

The State has assigned San Francisco from the least restrictive Yellow Tier, where virus transmission is minimal, to the more restrictive Red Tier, where virus transmission is substantial.

"The increased rate of new COVID-19 cases in San Francisco means that we need to make some additional adjustments to slow the spread of the virus in our community," said Breed.

"In addition to these rollbacks, we need everyone to do their part to get COVID-19 under control ... to all stay home as much as possible, avoid unnecessary travel, and avoid gathering with people who don't live with us ... It's an important step we can each take to stay safe and protect the health of our entire community," she noted.

San Francisco is currently experiencing a surge in new case rates. One of the key indicators of COVID-19 prevalence in the city, the number of new cases per day per 100,000 people, continues to climb from a low of 3.7 cases per 100,000 people to more than 10 cases per 100,000 people this week. From Oct. 10 to Nov. 10, daily new COVID cases jumped from a 7-day average of 29 cases per day to 97 cases per day.