“We’re going to bounce back stronger than ever,” says Mayor Breed.
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, California has been at the forefront of progress in the United States and the world. And San Francisco, with its high vaccination rates and majority vaccine-willing population, is smashing records left and right.
Mayor London Breed tweeted last Friday that 80% of eligible residents have received at least 1 dose. Most experts put the Covid-19 herd immunity threshold at 80-90% (originally it was estimated at 60-70%), so this vaccination progress is great news!
I’m proud to announce that today San Francisco became the first major American city with 80% of our eligible residents having received a vaccine dose.
On Tuesday we’ll remove nearly all local COVID-19 restrictions.
San Francisco will be fully reopen. https://t.co/RaMQy8tDAW
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) June 11, 2021
Last week, Mayor London Breed announced that San Francisco will fully reopen alongside the state’s plan on Tuesday, June 15. That is, they will eliminate capacity limits, physical distancing, masking, and other protocols” in almost all instances,” with the exception of very large events, hospitals, nursing facilities, and jails. Masks will also still be required on public transportation, according to the CDC. The SF Department of Public Health will require proof of full vaccination or a negative test at events with over 5,000 people, and unvaccinated attendees must be masked at these events.
San Franciscans have a lot to be proud of. Almost 80% of eligible residents have received a vaccine. Yesterday we recorded only eight total cases. We have the lowest death rate of any city in the country.
We’re going to bounce back stronger than ever. https://t.co/NvvF1eMbA7
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) June 9, 2021
“The people of San Francisco have done an incredible job during this pandemic of listening to our public health experts and following the guidance to keep each other safe,” said Mayor Breed. “Together we have saved thousands of lives. On June 15, we will be taking an incredible step forward by aligning our reopening with the state. I’m excited that the City is coming alive again and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead for San Francisco. Please continue to do your part make sure that you and everyone you know—friends, families, neighbors—are getting vaccinated so we can finally end this pandemic. ”
This news comes after the CDC’s May 13 announcement that fully vaccinated people no longer have to wear masks in most places. Nonetheless, it is still very common to see people masked up around the state, and continuing to wear a mask is good practice when you’re not sure of other people’s vaccination status. Unvaccinated individuals must still wear a mask in indoor public spaces and businesses.
A March study showed that over 72% of Bay Area residents said they would “definitely” get the vaccine, which made SF the second-most-vaccine-willing metro area polled across the US.
San Francisco’s enthusiasm to get vaccinated, along with the city’s meticulous Covid-related programming, is largely responsible for the area’s impressive vaccination progress and substantial decline in Covid rates. SF has experienced a 96% decline in diagnoses since January, and the city’s current case rate is only 1.5 per 100,000, which is 25% lower than the state’s.
Screenshot from data.sf.org
“With much of the health risk contained, the most important thing we can be doing now is supporting the economic recovery and revitalization of our commercial and downtown corridors and the city,” said Kate Sofis, the Director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. “The Office of Economic and Workforce Development will continue to support businesses as they rebuild, recover, and start anew in this post-COVID environment. Our focus remains on strengthening our city’s economic drivers with equity, partnering with our small business community to provide the tools and resources to adapt to our full reopening, and investing in services that our residents, workers, artists and every other San Franciscan needs in order to thrive.”
Featured image: @jam.bay via Instagram