SF News After Three Months Stuck In the 'Purple' Tier, SF Turns 'Red,' Allows Indoor Dining and Workouts to Resume As expected for several weeks though a week later than predicted, San Francisco has moved to state's "Red" tier for reopening businesses, as COVID case numbers have fallen back to levels not seen since before Thanksgiving. Also newly "Red" are Santa Clara and Napa.
SF News San Francisco Woman Who Lost Trump-Supporting Dad to COVID Seeks to Establish National COVID Memorial Day Now that over a half-million Americans have been lost to this pandemic — and the number could easily top 600,000 or higher before the year is out — there is a movement to establish a new national holiday to remember and mourn the COVID dead.
Arts & Entertainment The Chapel in the Mission Stages Socially Distant Mini-Concert With Singer Live Via Projection Live vocal performances still aren't permitted in SF under pandemic rules, even outdoors. But on Thursday night, Mission District venue The Chapel pulled off an experiment in COVID-safe live performance, with the singer live except not physically in the space with the band or the audience.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink Indoor Dining in SF Will Be Limited to Single-Household Tables of Four As discussed earlier this week, the timing for the restart of indoor dining in San Francisco is looking to be next week, and Mayor London Breed confirmed on Wednesday that it will start again as soon as SF is moved into the "Red" tier.
SF News One Medical Has Vaccines Revoked By SF, San Mateo, and Alameda Counties Over Allegations of Improper Distribution A day after NPR reported that SF-based healthcare startup One Medical had given COVID vaccines to ineligible patients and non-patient-facing staff, three Bay Area health departments are stopping vaccine allocations to the company.
SF News New CDC Studies Say Group Fitness Classes, Heavy Breathing at Indoor Gyms Led to COVID Outbreaks Two new case studies by the CDC have found that indoor group fitness classes in Honolulu and Chicago led directly to COVID outbreaks that infected dozens of people.
Business & Tech SF-Based One Medical Reportedly Allowed Ineligible Patients and Work-From-Home Staff to Get Vaccines SF-based healthcare startup One Medical is the latest organization being called out for unethical practices in the distribution of still very limited supplies of COVID-19 vaccine — allegedly including giving vaccine shots to friends and family of company leadership, and patients in their 20s.
SF News SF Opens Up Vaccinations to Teachers, Grocery Store and Restaurant Workers — But How Soon Will They Get Them? While vaccine supplies remain inconsistent and insufficient, San Francisco officially moved into Phase 1B of vaccine eligibility on Wednesday, allowing grocery store and food service workers to be next in line alongside educators, childcare workers, and emergency services personnel.
SF News SF Waits Out Another Week In 'Purple' Tier As San Mateo and Marin Counties Turn 'Red' Even though San Francisco's COVID case numbers have looked about as good as those in neighboring counties San Mateo and Marin, the latter two have advanced to the "Red" tier for reopening as of Tuesday afternoon, while SF is left behind with the majority of California counties in the "Purple" tier.
SF News Dancing Grandma From Grand Princess COVID Debacle Looks Back One Year Later We can now mark the one-year anniversary of the Grand Princess cruise ship COVID outbreak and the ensuing, weeks-long, nationally televised drama that was a precursor to the global pandemic. Two surviving elderly passengers say they have two more cruises planned after their vaccines.
SF News Studies In Mission District Find California Virus Variant Is More Infectious — But Not As Infectious as UK Variant Two recent studies based on COVID testing in San Francisco's Mission District offer some insight into the so-called California variant of the coronavirus, which appears to be becoming more prevalent locally with each week.
SF News Mayor Breed Announces Free Roundtrip Muni Rides To COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments In a news release from the Office of the Mayor Friday, Breed announced the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) will offer free roundtrip transportation for people traveling to and from their COVID-19 vaccine appointments starting this coming Tuesday.
SF News Bay Area COVID Hospitalizations Fall Below 1,000 For the First Time Since November On the same day that California's number of hospitalized COVID patients fell back to late-November levels this week, the Bay Area's number has also fallen to nearly the same number as were hospitalized on November 30.
SF News Catholic Priest at SF's Saints Peter and Paul Church Dies From COVID-19 The saga of the Catholic Church in San Francisco during this pandemic has led to a high-profile tragedy this week as we learn of the death of one of the priests at Saints Peter and Paul Church in North Beach.
SF News Bay Area Epidemiologist Suggests the Last Year of the Pandemic Was Just One Big 'First Wave' Marin County-based epidemiologist Dr. Larry Brilliant, who offered some prescient warnings last April about not letting up the Bay Area's strict lockdowns for fear of subsequent COVID surges, is back with some dour predictions and words of caution.
SF News 4,500 People Were No-Shows For Vaccines In Santa Clara County During First Week of Levi's Stadium Site Over 4,500 Santa Clara County residents didn't show up for vaccine appointments they made last week, during the first week of Levi's Stadium being operational, prompting calls for the county to set up waitlists and make sure that no vaccine doses go to waste.
SF News SF Opens Third Mass-Vaccination Site at Bayview Produce Market, In Partnership With Sutter Health San Francisco is set to be able to vaccinate 10,000 people per day as soon as vaccine supplies catch up, with the city's third mass-vaccination site now open at the SF Market (the wholesale produce market at 901 Rankin Street) in the Bayview.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink San Francisco Plans To Give Restaurant Workers Vaccine Priority; East Bay Grocery Workers Start Getting Vaccinated There has been some confusion over what groups of workers are prioritized under in vaccination Phase 1b, and it turns out that San Francisco is going to move restaurant workers up in the phasing ahead of what the CDC officially recommends.
SF News SF Mass-Vaccination Sites at City College and Moscone Center Closed This Week Due to Lack of Vaccine Supply Much like other counties in California over the past two weeks, San Francisco has had to pause its mass-vaccination effort due to supply issues.
SF News Californians With Underlying Health Risks Can Start Getting Vaccines — at Doctors' Discretion — on March 15 California's Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly announced Friday that millions of younger Californians with disabilities and underlying health conditions that put them at risk for severe COVID infections will become eligible for vaccinations starting March 15.
SF News Daughter of Bay Area Woman Who Was the First Confirmed U.S. COVID Death Wants to Thank Biden For Mention President Biden gave a January speech in which he mentioned Patricia Dowd, the 57-year-old woman from San Jose who was found to be the first confirmed U.S. death from COVID-19 last February. Now, a week after the anniversary of her death, her daughter is speaking out.
SF News Everyone Over 65 In the Mission, Bernal, and Potrero Can Now Get Drop-In Vaccinations at SF General If you are over 65 and live in the Mission, Bernal Heights, Excelsior, Dogpatch, or Potrero Hill and haven't yet received a COVID vaccine, you can now drop in and get one at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital any day between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Arts & Entertainment SF Will Prioritize Struggling and Legacy Venues for Entertainment Relief Fund — But the Fund Needs Private Donations The SF Board of Supervisors voted this week to establish the San Francisco Music and Entertainment Venue Recovery Fund, as a way to funnel money to struggling music venues and arts institutions that have been shuttered by the pandemic.
SF News CVS Stores In 18 Bay Area Cities to Begin Vaccinating People Friday Vaccination Nation is finally getting into full swing with both large-scale, mass-vaccination sites like Levi's Stadium and Moscone Center now open, and with CVS stores now taking appointments across the region beginning Friday.
SF News First California Cases of South African COVID Variant Found in Bay Area Governor Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that two cases of the potentially vaccine-resistant South African variant of COVID-19 have been found in California — one Alameda County and one in Santa Clara County.
