Getting shots into arms quickly is our most important focus, and it's important that we're clear about what is happening with the vaccine rollout.
We've only received a very limited number of doses, which are being administered.
But we're ready for more when we get them.
In order to facilitate large scale vaccinations, the City is working with private healthcare providers & pharmacies, which have received vaccine doses from the state, to open vaccination sites throughout SF.
When we have enough vaccines, these sites will be ready.
Right now, the vaccine is in limited supply and we're currently in Phase 1A of the state guidelines.
We’ve also moved to serve people 65 and over in the SF Health Network. This group is roughly 14,000 people who lack traditional private health insurance.
Why is this group next in line? In San Francisco, people 60 years of age or over represent only 15% of COVID cases, but 88% of our COVID deaths.
As we receive more vaccines to vaccinate more individuals, more sites will be opened throughout SF.
We'll ramp up our vaccination sites at the same time as vaccine supply increases.
We expect enough new doses to be able to open more sites for the next groups in the very near future.
We're talking about a matter of days and weeks, not months.
We learned from our testing sites that where you set up matters. We have to meet people where they are.
We moved testing capacity from the Embarcadero to Alemany Market because people in the Southeast were being underserved.
Pop-up community sites have been very effective.
This process is only going to get faster.
We've seen state and federal guidelines shift, and we expect that to happen again because this is an unprecedented effort.
When that happens, we'll be ready to adapt and I'll communicate to you what to expect.
We're going to get this done and we're going to get it done as soon as we have the vaccines.
When it's my turn, I'm going to show up and get vaccinated to protect myself and those around me.
There's a light at the end of the tunnel and it's full speed ahead until we're there.
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90% of SF businesses are small businesses. They employ more than half of our workforce, and generate tens of billions in economic activity – most of which remains in SF. For our economy to recover, we need them to thrive.
We'll now be close to $100 million in local support.
This new $62 million in grants and low to zero-interest loans will help us reach businesses that haven’t been able to access the funding they need through previous programs due to their size.
We’ll have more information about how businesses can apply: oewd.org/covid19
Today, Dr. Colfax gave an update on our progress in beating back the alarming surge of COVID-19 cases that we've faced since Thanksgiving.
Here are some of the main takeaways. 🧵
By staying home, we've reduced the reproductive rate of the virus from 1.45 on December 5th to 1.13 as of December 26th.
According to the modeling, this means that we will have saved an estimated 430 lives compared to if we had not lowered the reproductive rate.
But a reproductive rate of 1.13 is still too high. There is more virus circulating right now than ever before and we need to get that number under 1. We've done this twice before, we must do it again.
We do not take these actions lightly. I know the impact that they have on local businesses, employees, and all of our residents, especially without the federal support that we need. But we can't afford to wait and delay the inevitable.
Unfortunately as we expected, San Francisco has been placed on the State's most restrictive "purple" tier due the surge in COVID-19 cases.
Here's what this means for us and what we all need to do to reduce this alarming trend:
This is the most aggressive surge SF has seen to date. We're currently averaging 118 new cases per day compared to 73 per day in the first week of November.
For the week of November 16th, we had 768 diagnosed cases compared to 217 diagnosed cases the week of October 12th.
Beginning tomorrow, November 29th at noon, San Francisco will roll back or reduce capacity of certain activities to conform with the State's requirements.
Anyone who is watching what is happening across the country right now with COVID-19 cases should be alarmed.
Here in San Francisco we're seeing increased cases as well, and today we have been moved to the State's Red Tier.
Here's what this means for us:
Effective tomorrow, non-essential offices will have to halt indoor operations until further notice. Offices will have to return to 100% remote and telework operations.
Fitness centers (including gyms, hotel fitness facilities, and climbing walls) may remain open at 10% capacity.
Here in San Francisco, we have to keep our focus on what we can do. Your actions have saved thousands of lives, and we cannot lose sight of that.
We still have time to slow the growth of cases if we all do our part.
We can’t give in to complacency, fatigue, and frustration.
In the middle of a climate emergency, with our city experiencing weeks of dangerous air quality, there is no reason to subject important transit improvements to unnecessary delays.
Slow Streets & Shared Spaces allow residents to safely go outside and our businesses to find new ways to operate.
They are innovative responses to unprecedented challenges--examples of government working for good.
One person shouldn't be able to delay an emergency response.
In San Francisco, we allow almost everything to be subject to long delays, constant appeals, and never-ending "reviews" that make projects more expensive, less effective, and undermine the public's trust in our ability to get things done.