San Francisco officials hope to reopen indoor restaurants on March 3

During a webinar on Wednesday at the San Francisco Office of Economic Development and Workforce, SF Health Delegate Dr. Susan Philip announced that SF restaurant owners should plan to reopen their dining rooms in 3 March, assuming COVID-19 infection rates would continue to fall.

Of course, if there is one thing that last year taught us, it is that nothing is certain. Philip made it clear that these dates may change if infection rates increase or if state officials make changes to their reopening plan.

Although San Francisco remains on the most restrictive purple layer of the state’s color-coded reopening map, state and local authorities have confirmed that the California Department of Public Health expects to move SF to the red layer on March 2. According to Philip, the day after entering the red level, San Francisco is expected to resume activities permitted by the state, including indoor meals with a reduced capacity for 25% or 100 people. San Francisco will be the third Bay Area county to reopen in-house restaurants, joining Marin and San Mateo counties, which opened dining rooms on February 24.

When San Francisco last entered the red level in August 2020, SF officials insisted that indoor restaurants be postponed until the city changed to an even less restrictive orange level (but allowed to reopen only at the most restrictive levels, level Red). This time, there will be no delay.

In addition to the 25% capacity limit, restaurants can only allow members of the same family to share the table, with a maximum of four people. Meanwhile, outdoor dining will allow tables for up to three families, with a limit of six people.

The announcement – and the lack of delay – was welcome news for the Golden Gate Restaurant Association (GGRA), the city’s dining lobby. In a statement, the organization said, “We are grateful that the mayor, Dr. Philip, Dr. Colfax and the Department of Public Health will allow San Francisco to follow state regulations.” In other words, to reopen immediately, rather than defining your own stricter local guidelines.

The move to the red level also means that the San Francisco curfew, which requires restaurants to close all meals until 10 pm, will be suspended. The curfew was initially a restriction imposed by the state, which was suspended at that level in late January. But San Francisco kept him in place, said the county health director at the time, because the authorities wanted to “see how [COVID-19] numbers do to make sure we don’t have to roll back again. “

But even though the curfew has passed, indoor meals should close at 10 pm every night, says Philip. Open-air dinners can stay open after 10 pm, assuming customers want to stay outside in the cold of SF night.

Bars without food should remain closed under the red layer, Philip confirmed. Bars that serve food (own or with a partner) can also open internal service with 25% and a maximum of 100 people.

It’s been a long way back to San Francisco’s inland restaurants, which reopened at 25% capacity on September 30, 2020. Six weeks later, COVID-19 cases skyrocketed 250%, prompting the city to close cafeterias again on November 13, reverting to al fresco dining and travel only As infections continued to escalate, even al fresco dining was closed, with most of the Bay Area limited to food delivery only on 6 December.

According to GGRA, a second reversal of openings is not an option. “Any additional closings will have drastic economic consequences, including temporary and permanent closings,” they said in a statement. “We ask our restaurant members and San Francisco residents to follow these regulations in order to give us the best chance to keep this reopening permanent.”