San Francisco health officials have announced an indefinite extension of the 10-day home quarantine order for travel on Thursday morning.
San Francisco County was one of five counties in the Bay Area that adopted the state’s new regional home order earlier, opting to follow the order in early December, two weeks ahead of the ICU’s capacity. region to fall below 15%, which caused the state to close the rest of the region.
The state order for the Bay Area region is scheduled to expire on January 8 if the ICU’s capacity is back more than 15% and is not projected to fall below that number again for four weeks. On Wednesday, the state estimated that the region had 7.5% of capacity.
San Francisco officials believe the Christmas and New Year’s meetings will fuel a new outbreak in January, so restrictions will remain in place in the city even in the outward chance of the state order being lifted.
Under the order of staying at home, outdoor dining, indoor personal care services and other activities are prohibited.
The city’s travel policy – which requires a mandatory 10-day quarantine for anyone who travels, moves or returns to the city from anywhere outside the bay area – was originally due to expire on January 4.
Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s director of public health, gave no details on how the city would enforce the order, but said that anyone who fails to comply could be the victim of a misdemeanor.
SFGATE news editor Amy Graff contributed to this report.