Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors Press Availability 20240712 : v

SFGTV Mayors Press Availability July 12, 2024

Thank you. Good morning. I am mayor london breed. Thank you for your patience. Today we have a total number of 9544 cases of those diagnosed in the past six months of covid in San Francisco, with sadly 83 people have died. This is, as i constantly say, a fluid situation. Remember just recently as i reminded folks at the last press conference, of course, one day we were talking about a phased plan. Then the next day we had to make significant changes. More recently we had a level of confusion between state issued guidelines and local guidelines. I want to be clear that we are definitely working and communicating with the state. I just believe that there was a level of confusion as it relates to what we were doing here locally because of our numbers and because of our Public Health officials. What we try to do is provide you the most uptodate, accurate information. It is important that you visit sfgov. Org to find the latest in guidelines. There are certain things that we have repeated over and over again that we are at a point where those are the kinds of things we should automatically do. That includes making sure we wear our masks, social distancing, doing our part because what happens is there are a lot of questions asked of me and so many leaders in the city. The biggest question is when can i open my store, when can my kid go back to school . When can i do this or do that . I understand the desire. I have those same desires, and the only way to get to that place is if we all do our part. Today we want to talk a little bit where the city is, a new phase every opening because of where the city is, but also just reminder that just because this happens doesnt mean that we, unfortunately, cant pull things back if we see a surge. Labor day weekend is coming up. Everybody is thinking, well, this is the time i miss my family. It is six months. Here is an opportunity to get together. That is highly discouraged. Highly discouraged, especially if you want your kids to go back to school sometime soon, you want to visit your elderly parents in the senior home that probably doesnt still allow visitors, if you need to reopen your shop to go back to work. As we approach Labor Day Weekend, it is so important that we remember in those family and friendly gatherings that occur that is where we see through Contact Tracing where the spread happens, where we run into problems. We saw it during the fourth of july weekend there was a spike and during holiday weekends. We understand human nature wants to connect with other people, but we have got to get through this. We have got to get through this. Dr. Colfax will go into more detail what is happening in the city. We are still based on the state system that has been established that the governor announced last week, we are still in the red category, and we want to, of course, move away from that as much as possible, but it doesnt mean that we arent able to move forward to provide guidance on when we expect to reopen. We are off the wait list, which is a good thing. We are not out of the woods. Keep that in mind. As of today, we no, i thinks like haircuts and outdoor hair salons and massages can resume, outdoor pools can reopen. This is not what people wanted. I sure dont want to get my hair done outside, to be honest. I get it. This is what we have to offer. We also said that as of today that gyms can open, our door gyms as well. We are working on the guidelines to make sure they are prepared. Most likely september 9th would be the first opportunity that could be available. Another thing after being removed from the state watch list, malls were opened. As of today malls can reopen because we are no longer on the state watch list, and because they were open previously before we were placed on the state watch list. Now, i also have heard there is a lot of talk about not knowing what the guidelines are for various businesses. I want be to direct any business, any community, anyone who is uncertain what they need to do to sf. Gov reopening. There is not only a laundry list of guidelines for various businesses, there is information that you can review so you can be prepared even if your business is not open at this time. You dont have to wait until these announcements occur. You can get ready before the opportunity is available to your business. The path forward is good news. Again, we have Labor Day Weekend coming up. We have real concerns because the more reopen, the more people are gathering and spreading around, and we still have concerns. We want you to do this responsibly because we want to make sure we see these businesses continue to be open. All plans are subject to change, just like they were before. The last thing i want to do is tell you that we are going to be opening and then need to make changes and start closing businesses again. That is the last thing i want to do. The good news is that starting midseptember, hotels for tourism and visitors, outdoor movie theate theaters and mini , tour buses, boats. Indoor museums, zoos and aquariums with approved safety plans, houses of worship can allow Outdoor Services up to 50 people. That begins midseptember. We will provide the specific date once we have confirmed the date and make sure we are in touch with those various businesses with the appropriate guidelines. The end of september is, i think, really good news. This is something we should all be working towards. What that means is sacrifice of another month of masking and socially distancing and doing everything we can to get to a place where we can have indoor personal services. We can move hair and nail salons and barbershops and massages by the end of this month indoors. That is incredible if we continue at the pace we are now. And we will be able to allow tattoo, piercing and indoors no more than 25 and 50 outdoors. Door oneonone training with the gyms. Safely with mask wearing because that is critical to success of not opening establishments but allowing them to remain open. The path forward for schools. I just want to be cheer that as mayor i am, of course, very, very supportive of our schools, our kids, in particular, and wanting them to learn, grow and thrive. What we have seen this year with our students, especially those students who may not have parents or grandparents or Family Support to help in lessons. When we provided devices and internet service, they are still falling further behind. It is why it was so important that we open these learning hubs. We are almost at capacity. We know how vital it is that kids have access to people who are able to help them with lesson plans. I am extremely concerned about the future of our children as we continue with covid. We have to make prioritizing the ability to get schools reopened, we have to put that at the forefront. We know it is not as easy as we can open the schools. There are teachers and educators concerned, we know we need to put together plans. We know it is not my decision but the decision of the School District to move this forward, and my plan is to do everything i can to work handinhand with the School District so we can move forward to get kids back in school as soon as it is safely possible to do so. Starting in midseptember we will have Community Learning hubs. K through 6 schools that submitted health and safety plans through the waiver process will be able to open. I want to be clear. There is a process and it is their decision. We want to be clear that the opportunity to move forward with k through 6 is possible. After that work toward getting the following open by midoctober, after that the goal is to take it to the next level. By midoctober k through 6 not part of the waiver process will be part of the waiver process and will determine whether or not they will open. Middle school through eighth grade. High School Students are similar to adults. We are cautious and not certain we will move forward with high schools any time soon. All of this again has everything to do with the numbers, with where we are, with what is happening as we open more businesses, as we start to move around San Francisco like we havent before. We will all play a role in this success of what we do moving forward. I cant reiterate that enough because you all have been a part of stopping the spread at one point. When we first started this journey six months ago, this city was like praised, it was praised because of our fast action and because of the people of the city who played a role in doing everything you could to not only stay home but to also support your neighbors and to support one another. Six months later, i am tired of it, too. I am tired of living like this, too. I understand how you feel. I cant imagine what parents are going through or people caring for elderly parents, but you know what . We all have to sacrifice. We are all going to have to sacrifice to get through is this. As i said. If we want to move to the next level, if we want to get kids back in school, want be to keep the business that we grew up going to open, the businesses that rely on us every day, if we want to keep them open, all of us play a role. I want to thank you all for your cooperation. I know it is Labor Day Weekend, i know it is attempting, but, please, keep in mind that this virus is still out there and we need everybody to play a role in making sure that it doesnt continue to spread, and as we reopen we dont want to see the numbers go back up, which will force us to take a different direction. That is the last thing i want to get out here and say is that unfortunately, i told you yesterday that we were opening and i am telling you today that we have to close because of the numbers. That is the last thing i want to do. Keep that in mind as we move about the daytoday activities. This is really great news for small businesses, especially the personal services that i know are struggling to survive. Thank you all so much for your cooperation and work. At this time for a detailed Public Health update from the director of the department of Public Health, doctor brent colfax will joint us join us. Good morning, everyone. Thank you, mayor breed for all you do for this city every day. I am dr. Grant colfax, director of department of Public Health. I am happy to join the mayor and cochair of the City Economic Recovery Task force to discuss the San Francisco path forward towards recovery. As the mayor just explained the state has removed many of the restrictions that had previously prevented us from reopening low risk activities and businesses. While we have managed the impacts of the virus better than many other cities and counties. For example, we have one of the highest testing rates of any city in the country, and given the rates of infection, we thankfully have one of the lowest death rates in the country. Both of these, while being one of the densest cities in the country. We still need to move forward with gradual reopening as infection rates remain high as do hospitalizations. They have gone down over the past few weeks. We still have one of the highest hospitalization rates in the region. Of course, we are continuing to monitor the virus in our community and adjust and adapt our response as needed. We continue to have a high positivity case rate, and this continues to proportionately impact or latino community. Today in San Francisco we have 9544 confirmed cases of covid19. Over half of those cases are diagnosed in the latino community. We have made progress, but there is much more work to do. This is a priority for the department of Public Health. The reality is that we know more about the virus today than we did six months or even three months ago. We learn more and more about the virus every week. We are able to analyze more data and learn more about the relative risk and preventative measures we all need to take to reduce and slow the spread of the virus. This information is so key as we continue to follow the science, data and facts. These will inform our efforts as we open incrementally so we can manage the spread of covid19 and sustain the progress that we have made. We continue to monitor the rules and limitations of the states friday announcement, but in San Francisco we are placing an emphasis on our city indicators while decides whether we can reopen more and at what pace. We must look at the local contacts. Remember the state guidance is broad brushed, meant to cover counties as small and rural as yuba oral pine but also as large as la or as dense and urban as San Francisco. We will continue to be guided by the local Health Indicators which tract the covid19 cases, deaths, hospitalizations and Contact Tracing capability and availability of all important personal protective equipment. I want to provide an update on todays indicators from our data dashboard. The rate of new cases of covid19 remains high. We are seeing about 75 new cases every day right now and are still in the red zone. Our Hospital System indicators measuring the rate of increase of hospitalizations as well as capacity of our Healthcare System to respond are in green and indeed that is good news. Our other Health Indicators remain solid. Testing is green. We are testing over 3500 people a day, more than double our goal. Contact tracing is yellow and orange. We are reaching about 81 of cases and 77 of their contacts. While this metric has improved over the past few weeks, our goal is to reach 90 on both. Our ppe supply is at 100 of what we need for 30days, placing us in the green zone. The gradual reopening of Outdoor Services, hotels and children activities means people will start to move about the city more. Increasing risk and potentially Community Spread of the virus. With more activities we will likely experience an increase in not only cases but also hospitalizations. We will continually assess the new positive case counts and hospitalization numbers. Our reopening pace will be informed by our ability to manage the risk of more activity that may result in more cases and again more hospitalizations. Reenforcing the mayors comments, we need everyone to do their part, especially as we enter the holiday weekend. We must remain vigilant. I know six months if we are tired, but we must dig deeper and do our part. There is more virus out there than ever before, and indeed we have a narrow window to keep moving forward. The most important thing you can do to slow the spread of the virus is to continue to take precautions. I thank you for taking these precautions in march, june, july, now and in the future. Even in this time of uncertainty, especially in this time of uncertainty, it is important to remind ourselves and our neighbors that we do know how to slow the spread of the virus. Stay home as much as possible, cover your face to help us all keep on track. Keep six feet apart, wash your hands frequently, and please do not go out if you are sick and avoid social gatherings. We are in this together, and together we will get through this. In this evolving risk environment we will bring back our communities and economies the same we continue to fight covid19 by working together. Thank you. It is now my pleasure to introduce assessorrecorder carmen chu, cochair of the citys Economic Recovery Task force to discuss further the San Francisco path towards recovery. Thank you may or breed and dr. Colfax. We were here on friday to share our plans for expanding outdoor activities. We mentioned at that time we would be back this week to talk more about forward plans as we think about other industries. As dr. Colfax mentioned and the mayor pointed to we consider the restrictions and parameters the state provides. We will continue to reopen based on local Health Indicators. Today is important because it shows all of us what our path forward could look like. I will take a moment to thank the Public Health team for all of work they are doing to keep San Francisco residents and workers safe. I want to thank all of you for your individual actions that collectively have made a difference. Because of your actions, wearing a mask, keeping social distance and making sure you are taking precautions, we are here today to talk about what a path forward could look like. I want to acknowledge how hard it has been. I think for many people over the last month, month and a half it finley set in another i eye fine finally set in. We felt heart break we wouldnt be moving forward and this might be here longer than we hoped. We miss our family and friends and want to get back to work. More than anything as the city first started down this path when we first entered shel shelterinplace. We were here and it didnt really settle into us what this would all mean. What we did know was this this was going to be a situation unlike anything we had ever experienced before. Not only from Public Health perspective we are in the middle of an active Global Pandemic the Economic Impact would be so devastatdevastating and quick. Unemployment went from under 3 to 11 . There are over 60,000 in San Francisco unemployed at the moment. So many kids are having a very hard time adjusting to distance learning. Our most vulnerable continue to be isolated in homes and other settings. Not only that, we have heard from so many businesses they are hanging by a shoestring. In the beginning we knew there was a lot that we did not know about the disease. We had a lot to learn about how it is spread, prevalence and what it means for those infected and what treatments would look like. We know more today. We knew we had to b be flexibled transparent to sherry opening plans to get the economy back on track. We are transparent and will share forecast as soon as we know it, share guidance and best practices w

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