Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is pleading with residents to abide by the state's latest COVID-19 restriction: an overnight stay-at-home order that applies to all counties in the state’s purple tier, which includes Alameda County.
"It’s not that you can’t walk your dog after 10 or pick up your pizza from your favorite pizza joint. Those are considered essential activities. We’re really trying to send the message: you gotta stop partying," said Schaaf.
Public health experts say social gatherings are one of the main sources of the recent surges in COVID-19 cases across the country.
In Oakland, city officials recently filed a restraining order to shut down Humanist Hall, an event space that the city says has continued to host parties for an untold amount of people, without masks or distancing.
"You’ve got to stop the social gatherings. We are seeing that it is a huge cause of the increase in cases. We’ve got to sacrifice a little bit more and I know that’s really hard during the holidays," she said.
For her part, Schaaf says she and her husband are skipping their annual trip to his hometown in Pennsylvania. "I miss my family, this will be the first Christmas in my husband’s entire life that he has not been in Scranton, Pennsylvania - sorry, Nonny.
But this is what we have to do."
She is pleading with Oaklanders to follow her lead, especially if they do not want to see even more restrictions.
"Every one of us holds the power to prevent this virus from shutting down our community."