In San Francisco, indoor dining at restaurants and outdoor bars will remain closed as the city pushes back a planned reopening date, which was originally scheduled for July 13.
Mayor London Breed announced the temporary pause on Tuesday.
“We know that in order to protect public health, we are creating other challenges for small businesses,” Mayor Breed said.
There is currently no word on when indoor dining or outdoor bar service will resume.
Public Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax is worried about a rise in cases in the city, as well as around the Bay Area and California.
“At this rate, it could potentially overwhelm our healthcare system and cause many deaths if we don’t get a handle on this right away,” he explained.
Dr. Colfax added that other Bay Area counties have also made the decision to place reopening on hold.
“Marin County is rolling back some of its reopening and Imperial County to the south is overwhelmed with cases,” he said. “Hospitals there are full and patients are being transferred.”
Thirteen patients from other counties are being treated in San Francisco’s hospitals, with 11 of them transferred from San Quentin Prison.
The silver lining, however, is that there are no plans to shut anything down that is currently allowed to be open.
“I am hopeful, I am even optimistic that if we all do our part, follow the guidelines, that we won’t have to get to that point,” Dr. Colfax said.
The decision on other businesses such as barbershops, hair salons, the zoo and outdoor pools is expected by the end of the week.
