In addition to extending the existing ‘stay-at-home’ order for Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties through May 3, 2020, the revised order explicitly tightens its restrictions in five significant ways (including the shuttering of non-essential construction projects, which includes hotels):

(1) When people leave their residence as allowed by [the new] Order, they are ordered in most situations to strictly comply with designated Social Distancing Requirements when interacting with anyone outside their household.

(2) Outdoor recreation activities are further limited and additional recreation facilities must be closed. People cannot participate in outdoor activities that involve shared equipment, such as frisbee, soccer, or basketball, with any person outside of their own household or living unit, and areas with shared equipment and facilities like playgrounds, picnic areas, dog parks, golf courses, tennis courts, and pools must close. To prevent crowding, San Francisco may adopt further restrictions on use of parks and access to beaches, including possible closure.

(3) What businesses constitute Essential Businesses is further clarified and limited. Essential businesses must maximize the number of employees who work from home and must generally scale down operations that are not considered essential. Businesses that sell food, groceries, or cleaning products combined with nonessential products may continue to operate only if the portion of essential products they sell is a significant part of their business. There is also a new requirement that each Essential Business, such as a bank, grocery store, pharmacy, or restaurant open for takeout or delivery, must prepare, post, and implement a written protocol, in a form attached to the Order, tailored for that business, to protect customers and employees through designated social distance requirements. And Businesses that supply products needed for people to work from home are no longer Essential Businesses under the Order and must close stores open to the public in San Francisco.

(4) In addition to continuing to urge government agencies to provide shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness, the Order urges government agencies and other service providers to take steps to protect that population, including requiring social distancing in shelters and other facilities, providing hand sanitation for individuals who remain unhoused and ensuring 12 feet x 12 feet distancing for tents in encampments.

(5) The Order provides that only certain limited types of construction are permitted to continue, including healthcare projects directly related to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, housing and mixed use projects that includes at least 10% affordable housing, projects that provide services to vulnerable populations, projects required to maintain safety, sanitation, and habitability of residences and commercial buildings; and construction necessary to secure an existing construction site that must shut down. The Health Officer may issue guidance requiring construction site-specific health and safety plans. The Order also provides for San Francisco to limit public works construction to essential public works projects as determined by the City Administrator in consultation with the Health Officer. All other construction is prohibited.

In response to a frequently asked question: “Service providers that enable residential transactions (including rentals, leases, and home sales), including, but not limited to, real estate agents, escrow agents, notaries, and title companies, provided that appointments and other residential viewings must only occur virtually or, if a virtual viewing is not feasible, by appointment with no more than two visitors at a time residing within the same household or living unit and one individual showing the unit (except that in person visits are not allowed when the occupant is still residing in the residence).”

And in terms of moving, it’s only allowed “if it is not possible to defer an already planned move, if the move is necessitated by safety, sanitation, or habitability reasons, or if the move is necessary to preserve access to shelter” while the extended order is in effect.

Stay safe.  And speaking of explicitly, please stay the f*ck at home.

24 thoughts on “Explicit Changes to Local Stay-at-Home Orders”
  1. And they’ve closed the dog parks.
    THAT just may well be the.- how do you say it ?? – “tipping point”.
    🙁

  2. In response to a frequently asked question (and since added above): “Service providers that enable residential transactions (including rentals, leases, and home sales), including, but not limited to, real estate agents, escrow agents, notaries, and title companies, provided that appointments and other residential viewings must only occur virtually or, if a virtual viewing is not feasible, by appointment with no more than two visitors at a time residing within the same household or living unit and one individual showing the unit (except that in person visits are not allowed when the occupant is still residing in the residence).”

    And in terms of moving, it’s only allowed “if it is not possible to defer an already planned move, if the move is necessitated by safety, sanitation, or habitability reasons, or if the move is necessary to preserve access to shelter” while the extended order is in effect.

    1. “…housing and mixed use projects that includes at least 10% affordable housing, projects that provide services to vulnerable populations, projects required to maintain safety, sanitation, and habitability of residences and commercial buildings; and construction necessary to secure an existing construction site that must shut down.”

      Ok so what kind of animal are the current Hub projects at South Van Ness and Mission…literally hundreds of construction workers all over the place, and having their lunch and smoke breaks in the adjoining residential areas in soma…and not, by the way, practicing social distancing.

  3. The city of San Francisco. Remember these are the same delusional gaslighting folks who tell you to feel horrible because that Tent camp full of zombies with needle piles and stolen bikes are your former neighbors displaced by your privilege. Everyone with a very few exceptions is being great about social Distancing and this is just their headline grabbing kabuki theater per usual.

    1. Everyone is NOT being great about social distancing. Many parks were full of Millenials and Generation Zers playing full contact basketball and otherwise sharing vector transmission fluids.

      1. I will reluctantly agree with your first point, though. Too many stories like “Maria had a job, a life, and a boyfriend. Then said boyfriend of the time suggested they try heroin together. Maria agree, and now she “lives” in Van Ness Avenue with superating sores up and down her arms.”

      2. I walked through GGP to get groceries Monday afternoon. The park was packed with parked cars and people behaving badly – clusters of people walking, runners passing within feet of everyone else and people picnicking (sitting a few feet apart but sharing a bottle of wine). Looked like a normal summer day.

        1. Right…those of us running alone TO GET EXERCISE (something specifically allowed in the order) had to navigate around the hoards of people hanging out with their friends, playing team sports, and picnicing. It felt hazardous.

          1. I’ve no problem with people running alone. It’s people running in groups that’s odd in this time.

            That said, and this is something I always think, as I run too. Why not run somewhere where there aren’t that many people? There’s nobody along the Bay Trail, for example. Great run. No people.

      3. There were plenty of people congregating in Esprit Park in Dogpatch. I did read yesterday that passing/running by somebody was unlikely to spread the virus, rather it’s being near too close to someone infected for a prolonged period.

        1. Right, your risk of contracting the virus is directly proportional to the time you are in close proximity to a contagious person. Though unlikely, brief contact can result in infection, especially if your pass coincides with a cough of a sneeze.

  4. Thanks for posting, Socketsite. I have reviewed the order but I do not see the section you are quoting about service providers in real estate allowed to do tours for no more than 2 people, etc. Can you point us to that source? thank you!

    1. Section 13 (Definitions and Exemptions), subsection f (“Essential Businesses”) dot x (“Service providers that enable residential transactions”).

  5. It’s going to (rightly) extend beyond May 3. The very plausible risk in the next several weeks is that once we get past the peak and are clearly on the down slope locally and regionally, people are going to want to reopen things and take substantial steps to return towards normalcy. This is absolutely the WRONG approach.

    These measures need to stay in place until not only we are well past the peak and on at a stable baseline, but until we actually have both diagnostic and serological testing to determine who has the virus and who has antibody immunity from it. Only then can we begin to return to normal. If we don’t do this, there will be another significant wave resulting from prematurely lifting the restrictions and we’ll be right back where we are now.

    1. I won’t say your wrong, but I’ll emphasize the “want to reopen” – actually I would upgrade that to “enormous pressure” – and the argument will be that it doesn’t make much sense to remain shutdown now so as to avoid (the possibility of) being shutdown in the future; particularly if your medical regimen can’t be brought online quickly.

      Whenever it happens, I think we’ll see a layered reopening, the reverse of the shutdown process: the definition of essential will be broadened – which makes sense b/c you can go w/o a haircut for 2-3 mos but not 10 – and restaurants will be reopened, but with many new operational restrictions. As for large crowds, I wouldn’t count on settling down into a seat at Chase Center anytime this calendar year.

      1. Well they rescheduled Tame Impala for September of this year and another show I’m going to is 3 months delayed from end of April, so promoters seem confident enough that there’ll be some sense of normalcy then. This is assuming it’d be a pain to move the date again.

        1. I wish you and your ruminant friends the best of luck, but at this point I wouldn’t hesitate on ordering a good long novel or two – or five – to tide you over.

      2. If China is any measure, the “layered” re-awakening is what we’re looking at. People there go to work then go home. Restaurants are still closed/empty, not much socializing, no hanging out in parks, etc.

        They’re especially impacted as they can work on backlogs, but they can’t really ship much with the major ports closed worldwide and the demand has evaporated due to uncertainty. About the only thing still being made and making it out is tech gear destined for datacenters (think servers and routers, not iPhones).

    1. If you read the actual regs – not sure if SS has the link , but they’re readily available – the distinction is “essential”
      so if it’s your only facility, or they shut off your bathing facilties to do so, or a wall/roof/’mancave’ was removed to do this and needs to be reinstalled…pronto! – then “yes”‘; otherwise “no” : reschedule the completion and invite the contractor over for a holiday dinner …which holiday – or even which year – I can’t say.

      [Editor’s Note: A link to the detailed order is/was provided, five times, above.]

    2. While subjective, the “projects required to maintain [the] safety, sanitation, and habitability of residences” clause would likely provide cover for the completion of a bathroom remodel.

      That being said, whether it’s necessary and responsible to continue (certainly if it’s your only bathroom, perhaps not if there are another five, or even one, from which to choose) should be weighed with respect to the intent versus letter of the law.

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