Even with California dropping its COVID-19 restrictions next week, there was talk that some Bay Area counties, San Francisco in particular, might keep some local mandates in place.
But at a meeting with business leaders on Tuesday night, San Francisco's mayor and public health officer confirmed the city will be aligning with the state. One of the reasons may be because San Francisco's case numbers are so low, local experts believe it could become the first major U.S. city to hit the elusive herd immunity mark.
Exactly what herd immunity looks like has been widely debated.
What numbers do you have to reach where so many people are protected that the coronavirus can no longer easily spread? It’s a moving target, with most experts settling on between 80% to 90% of a population.
San Francisco is nearly there with close to 80% of its eligible residents having at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine.
One reason San Francisco's numbers are so high is because there are fewer little kids – the ones still not eligible for the vaccine.
How will this play when it comes to dropping mask mandates in public places?
"I think what they want to do is get rid of county-to-county differences and region-to-region differences," said UCSF Epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford. "So they will say, ‘Okay, on date certain everybody can get rid of their masks because the amount of immunity in the state is high enough to protect people who are unvaccinated and not wearing masks."
Overall, 58% of California residents have had at least one shot but because of that big outbreak we had over the winter.
Experts said the number of immune people is much higher than measured.
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