COVID-19 Reopening Roundup: Burning Man 2020 Goes All-In On Virtual Reality; SF Salons Move Outdoors; Oakland A's Quarantined In Houston
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- While the wildfires have raged in Northern California, the coronavirus outbreak, reopenings and school classes starting has continued. To keep you updated on the COVID-19 news you need to know here's a roundup of the top coronavirus and reopening-related stories.
San Francisco Prepares To Reopen Outdoor Personal Services Sept 1
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco is allowing some businesses to reopen this week, so many owners are adapting to the new rules while the city falls under the state's red or second-strictest tier of COVID-19 restrictions. Breanne Hight, who owns Aida Salon in Union Square, has been closed since the pandemic began. But the city has allowed personal services to restart outdoors on Tuesday, Sept. 1st. "My colleague and I decided to start a completely different business, so we are taking haircuts outdoors, and we're coming to your home, or to your outdoor space," said Hight. "It's a mobile hair-cutting business called Essential Haircuts." In addition to hair salons, barber shops, nail salons and massage parlors can operate outdoors. Employees and customers will be required to wear masks. Read More
Beyond the Beach: California Coastal Cleanup Expands Statewide Through September
SAN FRANCISCO -- Some major changes are coming to the biggest outdoor cleanup in the state: Coastal Cleanup Day. The California Coastal Commission is giving it a new place and a new time in this new world of COVID-19. For starters, it's not just confined to the coast but will extend across the state. Also, it will take place every Saturday in the month of September. "Given the current circumstances, we decided organizing CCD as we did in the past wasn't safe for our volunteers or organizers," said Eben Schwartz, with the California Coastal Commission. Instead, they're encouraging everyone to go out in their own communities and pick up trash. The entire state is urged to take part, even inland, because creeks and storm drains all lead somewhere. "Cleaning the coast really starts at our own front doors," Schwartz said, "trash that's on our streets is going to be the trash that's on our coast once the rains come." Read More
Burning Man 2020 Goes All-In On Virtual Reality With 'Multiverse'
SAN FRANCISCO -- This same time last year, tens of thousands of Americans were determining what they wanted to bring to an unforgiving desert and set on fire. It could have been a piece of paper, a memento, a sculpture, a wooden humanoid. For a week or so at the end of summer, thousands would pack into their vans, campers and art cars to spend some of the hottest days of the year in the Nevada desert dancing, doing yoga, mingling, making art and, of course, burning the Man. This year, the community is taking to the virtual world -- or rather, eight of them. Burning Man is another pillar of the artistic community in the Bay Area and beyond compromised by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It began on Baker Beach in San Francisco on the night of the summer solstice in 1986. The first "Man" burned was only 8 feet tall and, according to Burning Man pioneers Larry Harvey and Jerry James, the first crowd totaled 35 people. Read More
Oakland A's Have Positive COVID-19 Test, Postpone Sunday Game Against Astros
HOUSTON -- The Oakland Athletics announced Sunday a member of their organization has tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the postponement of their game with the Houston Astros and enter self-isolation. The A's did not identify who had tested positive in their short press release Sunday morning. "The team conducted testing and contact tracing for the entire traveling party this morning and will self-isolate in Houston with recommended safety precautions in place," the club said. Oakland has gotten off to an American League West best 22-12 record in the COVID-19 shortened season. They are 2.5 games ahead of the Astros after being swept in a Saturday doubleheader. Read More
East Bay Barber Sees Daylong Line After Alameda County Permits Outdoor Haircuts
PLEASANTON -- The simple act of getting a haircut is one of the things that has become quite complicated in recent months. With the chairs opened again in Alameda County, there were plenty of people ready to take advantage. "When I heard that Alameda County was allowing outdoor haircuts, we immediately came down," said Chris Stoffels. "I was just driving by, my wife saw the tents and I pulled right," said another man. "Because it's where I always get my haircut, the last 10 years." Some of the regulars knew, others just stumbled upon it but add them all up and you had a line most of the day at Cosmo's Barber Shop in Pleasanton. "I wouldn't be willing to wait with eight people in front of me if they didn't do a good job," Mark Wagner said of his regular spot. Read More
South Bay Small Business Owners Warily Prepare for Monday Reopening
SAN JOSE -- One of the hardest-hit Bay Area counties in the pandemic will reopen hair salons, barbershops and indoor malls on Monday with modifications, Santa Clara County officials said Friday. The announcement came six hours after Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state's watch list would be replaced with a color-coded tier system. "I mean we were sweating it out all day today, it was an emotional roller coaster," said Atelier Studio and Salon owner and founder Karie Bennett. "I think a good way to hold a meeting is to get everyone involved in the meeting who is going to have to deliver some information later." Bennett is preparing to open on Monday after shutting her doors more than five months ago. Read More
Gov. Newsom Outlines California's New Simplified, 4-Tier COVID-19 Reopening Guidelines
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday provided details on California's new simplified, four-tier, COVID-19 guidelines for counties to reopen specific business sectors based on what health officials have learned about the pandemic in recent months. Newsom briefly provided an update on the state's progress fighting numerous wildfires, but quickly turned his discussion to COVID-19, restating California's need to adjust with long-term strategies to deal with the pandemic. "COVID-19 will be with us for a long time and we need to adapt," explained Newsom. "This idea that it was going to go away in the summer during the warmer months, that somehow it would disappear based on an assertion or a tweet or a headline has obviously been substituted by a different reality that we're not only experiencing here in California but all across the nation." Read More
People Line Up In Record Numbers At Alameda Co. Food Bank In COVID-19 Economy
OAKLAND -- The pandemic has pushed food insecurity to levels not see in decades and people are relying on food banks more than ever here in the Bay Area. Three times a week, hundreds of cars line up as thousands of pounds of food are all given away at the Alameda County Food Bank. "We've never seen anything like this in 35 years in business. Each one of these distribution is serving well over a thousand cars!" says the food bank's Director Community Engagement Mike Altfest. It is one of four locations across Alameda County where folks are receiving much needed basic food for free. They are people who may have lost their jobs when their businesses were forced to shut down due to pandemic concerns. "They start lining up as early as seven in the morning and this will run for six straight hours" says Altfest. Read More
San Francisco Set To Reopen Outdoor Services Like Gyms, Hair & Nail Salons
SAN FRANCISCO -- With San Francisco's COVID-19 case levels qualifying the region for the red "moderate" risk tier for reopening according to the state's new guidelines, the city is moving forward with the reopening of some businesses like outdoor gyms and hair and nail salons, Mayor London Breed announced Friday. Starting on Sept. 1, businesses like nail and hair salons, massage parlors and barbershops will be allowed to reopen in outdoor settings and providers and customers will be required to wear masks. Then on Sept. 9, gyms and fitness providers will be able to hold classes and training sessions in outdoor public spaces like park lawns, city plazas and basketball courts. Other businesses like tattoo parlors and aesthetic services will remain closed for the time being. Read More
State Leaders Reach Deal on Eviction Protections
SACRAMENTO -- Californians who can't pay rent because of the coronavirus could stay in their homes through at least Jan. 31, but only if they pay a portion of some missed payments under a proposal endorsed Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislative leaders. The California court system has halted most eviction and foreclosure proceedings since April 6 because of the pandemic. But those protections will expire on Tuesday, prompting fears of a wave of evictions in a state that already has the largest homeless population in the country. Lawmakers have been rushing to come up with a bill to extend those eviction protections while balancing the impact on landlords, many of whom depend on rent payments to pay their mortgages. The proposal Newsom announced Friday would ban evictions for unpaid rent because of the coronavirus for money owed between March 1 and Aug. 31. From Sept. 1 through Jan. 31, tenants must pay at least 25% of their cumulatively owed rent. If they don't, they can be evicted. Read More
President Trump's Additional Unemployment Benefit: What We Know Right Now
NEW YORK -- Almost three weeks ago, President Trump issued an executive order meant to provide additional aid to the unemployed. The Lost Wages Assistance program (LWA), created by executive order, would add $400 to weekly unemployment benefits. At least that's how it was framed then. Most of the particulars weren't clear. LWA was part of a series of executive orders meant to follow the first round of stimulus, known as the CARES Act. That legislation included $600 in weekly unemployment insurance payments from the federal government on top of whatever individual states provided. Those payments counteracted the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. They ran out at the end of July. Congress is locked in a standoff on a second round of stimulus. Read More
