Some Restrictions Lifted In Bay Area Shelter-In-Place Extension

BAY AREA, CA — Six Bay Area counties on Wednesday officially extended their shelter-in-place order through May 31 to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. But the new order lifts restrictions on several kinds of businesses and outdoor activities, while leaving the basic stay-home mandate in place.

All construction work, some businesses that operate mostly outdoors and some outdoor recreational facilities that had been closed under the previous order will be allowed to reopen under the new order, which takes effect May 4 in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, as well as the city of Berkeley, which has its own health department.

The "stay home" aspect of the order, which asks residents to leave the house only for essential activities and exercise, remains in place.

The orders, issued jointly March 16 by health officers in each of the seven areas, had been set to expire May 3. As of Wednesday, there are 7,273 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 266 deaths in those seven areas, up from 258 confirmed cases and four deaths when the order was first issued.

"The new order allows us to carefully monitor our progress while building the essential public health infrastructure — such as contact tracing and testing capacity — that will support our gradual reopening and make recovery possible,” Dr. Tomás Aragon, San Francisco's Health Officer, said in a news release.

All construction projects can resume as long as they comply with safety measures that will be included in the order, officials said, although details about those measures have not been released. Different sets of rules will be in place depending on the size of the project, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Real estate transactions can also resume, with limits on in-person viewings and open houses.

The outdoor businesses allowed to reopen to customers include flea markets, landscaping, gardening, car washes and nurseries, officials said. Restaurants and bars must still remain closed, even if they have outdoor seating.

Childcare facilities and summer camps for children of essential workers can likewise open, provided that they meet in groups of 12 children or fewer, and that the children stay within the same group each day.

And outdoor recreation like golf, tennis and skate parks, which had been banned last month, can resume, but sports that require person-to-person contact or shared equipment are still banned.

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Solano County has already extended its own shelter-in-place order through May 17. Napa County extended its order indefinitely last week but is allowing all construction, in-person real estate viewings and landscaping work to resume. In Sonoma County, restrictions on outdoor recreational activities were eased this week.

New indicators for reopening

The Bay Area's order, likely the boldest containment measure anywhere in the United States when first announced March 16, has since been replicated in nearly every state.

The initial order, set to last three weeks, was extended March 31. Officials clarified at the time that much outdoor activity, such as the use of playgrounds and recreational facilities, was banned but that some businesses such as real estate agencies, funeral homes and rental car companies were added to the list of essential services.

Officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, have outlined plans to gradually reopen the state over the next few months, but they have said repeatedly that reopening too soon could cause a resurgence in COVID-19 cases even worse than the initial wave.

"This initial, measured easing of some restrictions is designed to set the stage for a gradual resumption of activity and prevent rapid, exponential growth of cases that could overwhelm hospitals for a particular jurisdiction or the region as a whole," Bay Area officials said Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, the Bay Area health officers released a set of five indicators that officials will use to measure how well the region has contained the coronavirus, and how ready it is to reopen. They are similar to the six statewide goals outlined by Newsom this month, which focus on the state's ability to test for the virus, keep vulnerable people safe and enforce social distancing once public spaces reopen.

The Bay Area's indicators are:

• Whether the total number of cases in the region is flat or decreasing
• Whether the number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is flat or decreasing
• Whether there is an adequate supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) for all health care workers
• Whether the region is meeting the need for testing, especially for vulnerable populations or people in high-risk settings or jobs
• Whether the region has the capacity to investigate all COVID-19 cases and trace all of their contacts, isolating those who test positive and quarantining the people who may have been exposed

Last week, Newsom said the state still hasn't met most of its six goals, although hospital admissions had flattened enough for elective surgeries to resume.

Newsom pledged that the state would ramp up its efforts to meet the most important of its six goals: increasing its capacity to test for COVID-19 and tracing the contacts of people who test positive.

California, whose testing rate still lags behind dozens of other states, hopes to test 25,000 residents per day for COVID-19 by the end of April, Newsom said — up from its current rate of 16,000. Eventually, officials hope to test at least 60,000 people each day.

As for contact tracing — a crucial way for officials to understand how the virus is spreading — California hopes to train and deploy at team of 10,000 tracers, drawing from an existing pool of state workers. Newsom hasn't said when they will be ready to deploy.

On Tuesday, Newsom announced that public schools may reopen for the next school year as early as mid-July, while businesses will be allowed to reopen in stages, depending on their level of risk.

Low-risk businesses like manufacturing and offices that are able to implement social distancing could reopen within weeks, followed by personal care businesses like gyms and hair salons once the virus has been further contained.

High-risk places like concert venues and live sports, however, will not be allowed to reopen until the state has access to therapeutic drugs to treat COVID-19, state Health Officer Dr. Sonia Angell said Tuesday. Experts have warned that that development may take months, if not years.

Full coronavirus coverage: Coronavirus In California: What To Know