Coronavirus Update: San Francisco Mayor London Breed Hints At Slow Phase 2 Re-Opening Roll Out
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Gov. Gavin Newsom is on the verge of announcing new guidelines for opening businesses, but it appears the San Francisco Mayor London Breed is signalling that it may happen a bit more slowly in her city than the rest of the state.
"The numbers are still going up, the number of deaths are still going up, and we have not lowered the curve," Breed said at her Wednesday briefing, indicating San Francisco has not seen a significant enough downturn in COVID-19 benchmarks for the health order to relax very much.
All of California awaits the new so-called Phase 2 guidelines that Newsom said he he will lay out Thursday which will go into effect on Friday.
Phase 1 allowed essential businesses to remain open, including restaurants serving takeout and grocery stores. Phase 2 is expected to open up retail stores, bookstores, flower shops and other small businesses with modifications.
"We are so ready to get back to business," said Janine Kirtland of AB Fits, a small clothing store in North Beach.
Kirtland said she is renovating with an eye toward reopening soon with curbside service. She said she is at peace with a slower reopening than the rest of California.
"It's obviously going to be hard because we were under [the stay-at-home order] before anybody else, too," she told KPIX 5. "But this is San Francisco and there's more people here and we've got to be careful."
Ida Zoubi's family owns Caffe Trieste, which has been closed for weeks. A gofundme page is raising money for staffers. The plan is to reopen the cafe Monday, but Zoubi is still not sure whether her retail shop next door will also be allowed to operate under the city's new phase two guidelines.
"People are a little frustrated because it's hard being locked up for two months," Zoubi said. "But if the safeguards weren't there, this could be a lot worse. We have to look at the big picture. We'll get through this."
The mayor did not elaborate on how much different San Francisco's Phase 2 guidelines will be from the rest of the state. A spokesperson told KPIX 5 that no matter what happens, city residents need to know they are required whichever set of guidelines turn out to be more strict.
