Bay Area’s Shelter-in-Place Extended Through End of May

Santa Clara County and its neighboring jurisdictions will last through at least the end of May, public health officials announced today.

The extension also eases restrictions on “lower-risk activities” that have been in place for the past month, according to a news release about the revised order.

Initially, the stay-home mandate was set to expire on May 3. But public health officials had been signaling that the restrictions would need to last a while longer before it’s safe enough to re-open the community.

Below is a copy of the full announcement.

Joint Statement of the Seven Bay Area Health Officers on Upcoming Extension and Revisions to the Current Shelter-in-Place Orders

Later this week, the Public Health Officers of the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara as well as the City of Berkeley will issue revised shelter-in-place orders that largely keep the current restrictions in place and extend them through May. The new order will include limited easing of specific restrictions for a small number of lower-risk activities. The shelter-in-place orders in effect across the seven jurisdictions are set to expire on May 3, 2020.

Thanks to the collective effort and sacrifice of the 7 million residents across our jurisdictions, we have made substantial progress in slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, ensuring our local hospitals are not overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases, and saving lives. At this stage of the pandemic, however, it is critical that our collective efforts continue so that we do not lose the progress we have achieved together. Hospitalizations have leveled, but more work is needed to safely re-open our communities. Prematurely lifting restrictions could easily lead to a large surge in cases.

The Health Officers will also release a set of broad indicators that will be used to track progress in preparedness and response to COVID-19, in alignment with the framework being used by the State of California. Future easing of restrictions requires that each jurisdiction and various sectors continue to rapidly build critical infrastructure and systems to respond to and control the spread of coronavirus infections and to ensure the health care system’s ability to meet demand.

This global pandemic of COVID-19 is still in its early stages. The virus spreads easily, testing capacity is limited and expanding slowly, and vaccine development is just beginning. We expect to be responding to COVID-19 in our communities for a long time.

As effective as our efforts have been, if we move too fast to ease restrictions, the potential of exponential spread could have grave impacts to health and wellness of our residents as well as the economy.

The Health Officers of these seven jurisdictions have been working closely together in leading a unified, regional approach, to protect the health and safety of our residents. Details regarding this next phase will be shared later in the week, along with the updated order.

23 Comments

  1. After 6 weeks, why is testing capacity still limited? I even supported lockdown at first, but at this point, the cure really is starting to look worse than the disease. Not clear that there is any sense of urgency in reopening. Yet real people — especially the middle class — are losing their ability to make a living every day. Just read that they are collecting data on racial disparities in the impact of Covid 19. Definitely a worthwhile idea in the abstract, but if they have time to do that, why not put some of that time into making testing widespread and available, so we can reopen and everyone can go back to work.

  2. OUTRAGEOUS!

    Evidence is mounting that coronavirus is already widespread, that it’s only a modest health problem for the greater proportion of the population, and that only a small number of elderly, at risk people need to be “sheltered” and isolated”.

    “Shelter in place” is an oppressive,and unnecessary intrusion on the lives of the overwhelming majority.

    “Shelter-in-place” and the general lockdown of businesses is MAINLY driven by politics and the urge to “not let a crisis go to waste”.

    The losers of the 2016 election want their revenge and the power that they believed was their entitlement, and coronavirus tumult is simply their plan for causing economic and social calamity that will regain for them their privilege of being our rulers.

  3. That pain you are feeling is the continued pressure of the government jackboots on our necks.
    I saw Newsom’s daily press conference today. He’s sporting a nice tan and a fresh haircut, and even though he is independently wealthy, he is still collecting a paycheck from us, the taxpayers. Meanwhile, I keep getting notices from EDD, requiring a new password to get onto a new site, which was closed down completely for almost three days, but I have yet to receive my debit card containing my benefit. There are 4 million in California alone who are probably going through much of the same BS and delay. The longer we stay under house arrest, the weaker our immune systems will become as we overuse soap and hand sanitizer.

  4. THE FEDS ARE COMING! THE FEDS ARE COMING!

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ag-barr-sics-federal-prosecutors-states-unconstitutional-lockdowns

    “AG Barr Sics Federal Prosecutors On States With ‘Unconstitutional’ Lockdowns”

    “But now, as more American question the necessity of the ongoing lockdowns, Barr has published a memo directing federal prosecutors to look into state directives that could be violating constitutional rights and civil liberties.”

    Of course, since the Constitution protects individual liberty as sacrosanct, we suspect that every state that has been strictly enforcing its lockdown measures with strict fines – something that California Gov Gavin Newsom has threatened to do if residents continue to flout social distancing guidelines at the beach.

    In the memo, Barr says “I am directing each of our United States Attorneys to also be on the lookout for state and local directives that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.”

  5. For the first time in history, instead of quarantining the sick, the government in quarantining those who are not sick. We are in an Alice in wonderland world.

  6. A judge in Illinois has issued a temporary restraint order blocking Illinois governor’s 30 day extension of his house arrest order. It was filed by an Illinois state legislator.
    The ACLU has been MIA with respect to the trashing of the Constitution by these blanket house arrest orders by most of the US governors. They are only filing suits to let prisoners out of jail.They didn’t need to do that in SF, the snowflake capital of the US, because mayor Breed issued an edict letting them loose on an unsuspecting public.

  7. STAY AT HOME PEOPLE! Money IS NOT more important than your health and life. Trump monkeys, hospitals are in high need of volunteers. Go and volunteer few hours per week. Show us with your example. I keep the ones I love locked. I go once a week to drop food to those with the virus or those too old to go out, drive…There are many ways for you to become essential. Only remember injection of alcohol not a treatment for this virus. I said April was going to be the deadliest in California with the third week being the worst. We are on top of curve now. Infections and death rate will start to drop every single day a week from now. No interstate or international travel.

      • Employers cut workers not volunteers. Since there those who believe the virus is not that significant, they should go and volunteer. I know survivors and few who died from it. It is here to stay for some time. People will continue to be infected and die for about a year but at a slow rate. There are different organizations and departments and that rely on volunteers’ work not paid staff. The affluent will get the biggest blow. History has shown that too.

        • > Since there those who believe the virus is not that significant, they should go and volunteer.

          This doesn’t make any sense.

          Volunteer for what?

          The virus is not that significant.

          How about if I volunteer for something significant? Like feeding my family.

        • Fexxnist, you are obviously allowed your own opinion, but you are not allowed to shout “fire” in a crowded theater. You are harming people with your hateful fearmongering rhetoric, stop hurting them now before you are denied your place in heaven.

          Stop the harm, stop the fear. The Disease is real, the Pandemic is false. Get back to work.

      • Everyone take a breath and put down the guns. Except for FEXXNIST, who is probably not armed. ;)

        I know people effected by the cuts, and they are with Standford University, not Stanford Hospital. They are two different businesses. The cuts are mostly administrative university cuts.

        • I have to correct myself on this one. It is the hospital not the university. The hospital is only taking critical case and not cosmetic stuff. Doh!

  8. For the first time in history the healthy are being quarantined instead of the sick, thanks in great part to Fauci.

  9. So the PANICdemic destruction of the Constitution and the entire US economy based on predictions and models used by Fauci, Cuomo, Newsom, Birx and others is going to continue in the Bay Area. We started with a new form of March Madness where outlandish predictions were made, none of which even remotely materialized. Cuomo’s predicted 200,000 deaths in NY has barely reached a quarter of that. The models Fauci continued to rely on also fell way short, throughout April Apprehension. Now we are told it will be May Malaise. None of the predictions, all of which have failed, were not based on science, but on darts thrown at the COVID panic dart board. But 30-40 million people are looking for work, can’t find any, and no one knows how many millions more aren’t even bothering to look for jobs that don’t exist. The Bay Area alleged experts refuse to tell us all what percentage of the deaths from COVID are of folks who had other serious underlying conditions. Why, because thier 15 daily minutes of fame would disappear like the smoke and mirrors upon which they have relied. WAKE UP SNOWFLAKES, you’re being conned, your livelihoods stolen, and your Constitutional rights stripped away like so much dust in the wind.

  10. burning the deadwood…

    foreclosure the borderlines…

    evict the poorest…

    is all this does

    and you think these people are progressives

    You are a joke

  11. WHAT? ! ! !

    > WHO Flip-Flops Again, Endorses Sweden’s Lockdown-Free Approach To Tackling Coronavirus: Live Updates

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/china-reopens-beijing-plans-annual-party-congress-may-21-live-updates

    This is so freaking crazy!

    The “health authorities” are so completely confused and conflicted, it’s probably safer to just ignore them and drink medicinal alcohol.

    First, the World Health Organization (WHO) were geniuses and saviors, and their director, Tedros Whatshisname, was the smartest guy on the planet.

    Then, we learned that Tedros and WHO were stooges of the ChiCom government who lied to the world about coronavirus, and that WHO got $400 million from U.S. taxpayers to push their lying.

    Then we learned that shutdowns in California, Santa Clara County, and other places were justified in part by following WHO guidelines,

    Then we learn of California doctors claiming via YouTube that the shutdown is unnecessary.

    Then we learn that YouTube has censored the doctors’ video (5 million views) because their advice contradicts WHO guidelines that lockdowns are a great idea.

    So, what does Santa Clara County have to do to get OFF of WHO’s California “lockdown” list and get ON WHO’s Sweden “NO lockdown” list?

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