Community

SAN FRANCISCO TO TEMPORARILY PAUSE ON EXPANDING ACTIVITIES AND BUSINESSES REOPENING

Published

6 years ago

October 30, 2020

City of San Francisco

Mayor London Breed

10/30/2020

Due to an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, San Francisco will temporarily pause most planned reopening efforts previously scheduled to resume on Tuesday, November 3^rd

Department of Public Health will assess situation; and resumption of further reopening is dependent on improvement of COVID-19 impact on City

San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed and Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax today announced the City will temporarily pause reopening of additional businesses and activities scheduled to resume or expand on Tuesday, November 3^rd. This pause is due to an increase in COVID-19 case rates and hospitalizations in San Francisco, coupled with the current increase in cases in California and across the United States. San Francisco will continue its strategy of a thoughtful and deliberate reopening, consistent with emerging scientific data, information and evidence, and will move forward in the safest way possible.

This pause is a precautionary measure to ensure San Francisco can continue to reopen safely, to try to help prevent San Francisco from moving backwards under the State blueprint, and to protect community health. It is better for San Francisco to take the time to pause now and assess the data than to keep reopening and risk needing to roll-back reopening at a future date. Especially with upcoming holidays and events, including Halloween and the election, and people’s desire to spend time with their families and travel, it is more important than ever that the City carefully evaluate the data and respond appropriately.

The majority of activities and businesses that were scheduled to reopen or expand their capacity on Tuesday, November 3^rd will be paused. These include opening indoor pools, bowling alleys, and locker rooms at fitness centers, and expanding capacity at indoor dining establishments, places of worship, and museums, among other businesses and activities that are allowed only if a county at least reaches the orange tier under the State’s blueprint. Businesses and activities that are currently allowed may continue operating at this time. Limited lower risk activities that were planned to move forward on November 3^rd (and are not tied to the State’s orange tier) will still do so, including expanded filming productions with strict safety protocols, and indoor dining at museums up to 25% capacity. Schools will continue to reopen, with more than 75 schools approved and a handful of high schools approved to open their doors in the next week.

“Throughout our response to COVID-19, San Francisco has demonstrated our willingness to make hard choices and take reopening carefully and deliberately. Given what we’re seeing in our numbers here as well as across the country and the world, we want to make sure we continue our cautious and deliberate approach, which is why we’ve decided to pause before moving forward with more reopening,” said Mayor Breed. “With this pause, our public health experts can evaluate our cases and hospitalizations so that we can work to stay ahead of this virus and keep our community safe. We have to all keep doing our part and follow public health guidance to keep ourselves, our families, and our entire city safe. Wear your face covering when you go out, keep your distance, and avoid gatherings. This is going to be especially important with Halloween this weekend and the election on Tuesday. These aren’t normal times and we can’t act like they are.”

“Our goal has always been to respond quickly and carefully, watch the data closely, and make decisions based on the data, science, and facts,” said Dr. Grant Colfax. “The data is, once again, telling us to pause and to extend the time before we reopen the next phase of indoor activities. San Francisco’s strategy has always been a deliberate and measured approach. As we increased activities throughout the City, we expected to see the virus circulate. We have always focused on making sure our healthcare system can handle cases, and while system capacity remains adequate, we know this virus can move fast, so we are pausing to evaluate and to ensure we can continue to manage the impacts of the virus and keep our communities safe.”

The Department of Public Health will continue to monitor the City’s COVID-19 Key Public Health Indicators and other information that will inform the status of further reopening, and will determine when it is appropriate for San Francisco to resume its gradual reopening. The City continues to encourage San Franciscans to avoid gatherings, wear face coverings when leaving home, and keep their distance from other people, and to get tested for COVID-19 if they feel sick.

“Although we are disappointed to hear that San Francisco will not be moving forward to allow indoor dining at 50% capacity at this time, we understand the need to pause our reopening plan in order to keep cases and hospitalizations under control,” said Laurie Thomas, Executive Director, Golden Gate Restaurant Association. “This is not the news we were hoping for, but we are thankful that indoor dining at 25% capacity is continuing, as is outdoor dining, all adhering to our SF Department of Public Health guidelines. We appreciate the hard work of the Mayor, the Department of Public Health and our community to keep our city from facing the surges and backtracking of reopening that we are seeing across many parts of the country and internationally.”

The following activities scheduled to resume on November 3^rd will be put on pause:

Reopening of indoor pools, indoor locker rooms and showers at gyms, and indoor family entertainment activities like bowling alleys.
Expanding capacity from 25% to 50% (up to 200 people) at indoor restaurants, indoor food courts, movie theaters, museums, zoos, and aquariums, and houses of worship.
Expanding capacity at outdoor events from 200 to 300 people at outdoor worship and political protests. The following activities scheduled to resume on November 3^rd, will continue:

Reopening indoor dining at museums at 25% capacity (up to 100 people).
Expanding outdoor film production from 12 to 25 people with safety protocols and easing restrictions on indoor film production with testing and ventilation requirements or an approved health and safety plan.
Allowing additional types of outdoor live performances with up to six performers in a drive-in setting.
Allowing increased real estate showing and open houses with social distancing protocols in place.

Additionally, to continue to operate at 25%, indoor restaurants and personal service providers that deliver services requiring mask removal will need to post signage about what ventilation measures they have put into place and comply with at least one of a list of recommended ventilations strategies by November 17.

One of the key indicators of COVID-19 prevalence in the city, the number of new cases per day per 100,000 people, has increased over the last two weeks from a low of 3.14 cases per 100,000 people to 4.17 cases per 100,000 people. The rate of increase in hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients is also a key indicator that affects the pace of reopening. San Francisco recently hit a low of 21 people in the hospital with COVID, but that number has begun to climb again and is now at 37 people.

Despite this recent increase in cases, San Francisco continues to do relatively well in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in the community. San Francisco has the lowest death rate of any large city in the U.S. and has the second lowest test positivity rate of any large city. San Francisco leads in testing, with 5,100 average tests per day and more than 664,000 tests conducted to date.

The City’s relative success to-date is due to its COVID-19 response infrastructure, which includes testing, contact tracing, and support services, its deliberate and measured approach to reopening, and a willingness to pause and assess the data before moving forward on reopening.

The Department of Public Health will monitor the Health Indicators, the risk of specific activities, the estimated reproductive rate of the virus, the regional data and the State’s actions in determining when and how to move forward, pause, or dial back reopening. More information about San Francisco’s reopening timeline can be found at https://sf.gov/step-by-step/reopening-san-francisco.

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Related Topics:COVID-19 Dr. Grant Colfax Mayor London N. Breed

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Arts and Culture

COMMENTARY: Black Music is the Sound of Black Freedom: Let Us Reclaim Both This Juneteenth

Black Music Month started when Black Music Association members Ed Wright, Kenny Gamble and his wife, journalist and radio host Dyanna Williams were able to persuade President Jimmy Carter to establish the observation on June 7, 1979.

Published

1 day ago

June 9, 2026

Oakland Post

Robert Johnson (1911-1938) is thought of as the godfather of blues music, especially Delta blues. The 29 songs recorded by him during his short life have been of massive inspiration to guitarists and musicians over the last 80 years. Public domain photo.

By Wanda Ravernell

Black Music Month and Juneteenth are inextricably linked – Black music is the sound of our freedom.

From the plaintive moans of the enslaved Africans’ ‘sorrow songs,’ to the fields of Civil War battle where Black soldiers picked up abandoned bugles, to the upright piano played in juke joints on Saturday night and churches come Sunday morning, our ancestors’ innovation in the face of want, fear, degradation, and hopelessness has yielded genres of music imitated ’round the world.

In 2000, Congress made it official. In 2009, Pres. Barack Obama changed the name to African American Music Heritage Month and in 2023, Pres. Joe Biden changed it back to Black Music Month, two years after he declared Juneteenth a national holiday, the result of a movement led by Opal Lee.

Our ancestors battle for freedom over these last 400 years and the music that allowed them expression of their humanity deserved to be honored.

But we may be losing sight of the value of their sacrifices.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Faith That the Dark past Has Taught Us…’

Along with the long-known exploitation of Black musicians whose recordings were stolen by record companies, the commercialization of Juneteenth feels like another kind of theft.

I had never heard of Juneteenth until I moved to the Bay Area from my hometown of Philadelphia. I didn’t know it was one of many freedom festivals celebrated by descendants of enslaved people in the United States.

Emancipation Day was Jan. 1 in Pennsylvania, April 16 in Wash., D.C., May 20 in Florida, and Aug. 8 in Kentucky. But Juneteenth, June 19, has the most renown, known in Texas as the ‘colored peoples’ Fourth of July.’

It was marked by parades, beauty pageants, rodeos, backyard barbecues and church picnics.

Yes, church.

The formerly enslaved began the day praying in thanks for their freedom just as they had prayed for Jubilee – the day of freedom – when they had chains on their feet and hands. They ‘testified’ about their past suffering and how they had managed to overcome.

And they sang.

Although, we will not hold it this year, Omnira Institute’s Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance recalled this part of Juneteenth with prayers in the languages of the African captives. In the middle of the ceremony, a soloist would lead us in singing “Many Thousand Gone” while we took turns reciting portions of the Emancipation Proclamation, the news of freedom that took more than two years to reach Texas – two months after the Civil War ended.

“Many Thousand Gone” was famously recorded by Black luminary Paul Robeson in 1947:

“No more auction block for me,

No more, no more

No more auction black for me

Many thousand gone.”

Other verses refer to the ‘pint of salt’ and the ‘driver’s lash,’ the realities of enslavement that they had survived.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Hope That the Present has Brought Us’

All of the genres of African American music have at their root songs like that, the essence being, as Stevie Wonder, wrote, “the joy inside our pain.” So Black music is not just music. It is our story, our history, our very strength.

During the Civil Rights Movement, which peaked 100 years after slavery ended, the people testified that it was the freedom songs – based on spirituals – that gave them the heart to march, face attack dogs, fire hoses, beatings, and shootouts with vigilantes.

The music reminded them that power was in the people. That music, our music, can do so again. We don’t have to accept the commodification of the products of our culture.

The power of those songs is showing a resurgence across the South as we battle again for the right to self-determination through the ballot box.

Those songs are the voices of our ancestors, voices forged in their blood, their sweat, their tears, joy and, above all, faith. Those songs, those prayers live in our blood and our very breath.

This Juneteenth, let us reclaim those holy voices expressed in Black music for ourselves. It is our birthright. It can neither be bought nor sold. No more. Never again.

Wanda Ravernell is the executive director of Omnira Institute, sponsor for 18 years of the Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance and Oakland’s 11^th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, which will take place on Sept. 12.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of June 3 – 9, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 3 – 9, 2026

Published

1 day ago

June 9, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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#NNPA BlackPress

Study: Waiting Lists for Child Care Assistance Nearly Doubled

BLACKPRESS USA NEWSWIRE — “Since the expiration of tens of billions of dollars in federal child care funding in 2023 and 2024, an already fragile child care system has been pushed even closer to the brink.”
The post Study: Waiting Lists for Child Care Assistance Nearly Doubled appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

2 days ago

June 8, 2026

Oakland Post

By National Women’s Law Center

The National Women’s Law Center released its annual State Child Care Assistance Policies report, finding that the number of children placed on waiting lists for federally funded child care assistance nearly doubled between 2024 and 2025 — and that number has only continued to grow.

The report serves as a key resource for state lawmakers, advocates, and policymakers by tracking state child care assistance policies and identifying where states are strengthening support for families and early educators — or falling behind.

“This deeply troubling increase in the number of children on child care waiting lists is the result of a failure to invest in this crucial sector,” said Karen Schulman, senior director of state child care policy and author of the report. “Since the expiration of tens of billions of dollars in federal child care funding in 2023 and 2024, an already fragile child care system has been pushed even closer to the brink.”

Key findings in the report related to waiting lists for child care assistance include:

• 17 states had waiting lists or a freeze on intake for child care assistance in February 2025, up from 13 states in February 2024.

• Approximately 106,700 children nationwide were added to waiting lists between February 2024 and February 2025, bringing the total to 225,500 children in February 2025 — a 90 percent increase compared to February 2024.

• The numbers climbed even further between February 2025 and summer/fall 2025, with more than 175,000 additional children added to state waiting lists in just a few months — a 78 percent increase.

• At least seven states newly began placing families on waiting lists or freezing intake, while at least 10 additional states saw their waiting lists grow, after February 2025.

The report also includes state-by-state data on key child care assistance policies, including income eligibility limits, parent copayments, provider payment rates, and eligibility policies for parents searching for work.

Click the link to learn more: Warning Signs: State Child Care Assistance Policies 2025.

The post Study: Waiting Lists for Child Care Assistance Nearly Doubled appeared first on BlackPressUSA.