The era of outdoor dining in San Francisco – and elsewhere around the bay – could resume in about three weeks or so, according to state projections about COVID-related ICU capabilities.
As you probably know, the current blockade orders were not the work of Mayor London Breed or any other mayor or director of public health, but came from Governor Gavin Newsom’s command at the regional level. While San Francisco and four other Bay Area counties began their home stay requests about 10 days earlier than they should in December, the region-wide request went into effect on December 18 and will not be suspended until the state projects that the availability of beds in the ICU is decreasing and will reach 15% or more in four weeks.
As the Chronicle reported on Thursday, the Greater Sacramento region (which includes Tahoe and a total of 13 counties) had its state order suspended this week not because it reached 15% bed availability in the ICU, but because it is expected to soon.
Meanwhile, the Bay Area’s ICU availability has dropped to its lowest level since the pandemic started on Monday, dropping to less than 1%, but luckily it has risen back to 4.7% in the middle of the week and may be upward trend.
Currently, through the California COVID assessment tool, the quickest that the Bay Area would see its orders suspended would be February 7 – although prospects are likely to change next week. And while San Francisco and Alameda County have increased their capabilities in recent days, according to the Chronicle, other counties are lowering the region’s average – like Santa Cruz County, which had 0% midweek availability .
San Francisco restaurants that have invested in outdoor parklets, etc., are eager to reopen for dinner, and the scientific jury has yet to decide whether outdoor dining poses a significant risk for transmission of COVID.
Experts have warned, however, just as trends may be heading in the right direction locally, that the new and more contagious variant of the UK coronavirus is actively spreading across the United States – and could become the dominant strain here in March. . The strain was found to have spread widely in the UK, even while blocking requests were in place, suggesting that regular “essential” deals (not to mention dinner) may be more risky to transmit than with the original strains of the virus .
Photo: SFist