'Kind of enraging': CNN rips San Francisco in shelter-in-place segment

Crowds of people walk in Golden Gate Park. San Francisco had its first shelter-in-place day on March 17th, 2020 in response to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Crowds of people walk in Golden Gate Park. San Francisco had its first shelter-in-place day on March 17th, 2020 in response to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate Image 1 of / 67 Caption Close 'Kind of enraging': CNN rips San Francisco in shelter-in-place segment 1 / 67 Back to Gallery

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CNN's Jake Tapper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta were not impressed by the behavior of some San Franciscans under a shelter-in-place order — so much so they made an example of the city on air.

The segment showed the Embarcadero at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, the first day of the city's mandate that citizens stay home to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. Although it looked pretty thinned out for a normal weekday, there were a number of joggers and people taking in the fresh air.

"Look, I'm not medical professional, but I don't know how effective this, as a shelter in place, could possibly be," Tapper said.

"People have to social distance. They're not doing it, Jake. I'm worried about this now," Gupta replied.

Tapper and Gupta were visibly bothered as the clip continued to show people strolling on the San Francisco waterfront.

"I still really get the impression people in many places aren't taking this seriously," @drsanjaygupta says on many San Francisco residents ignoring the shelter in place order to stay home. "I'm worried these numbers- they keep going up." pic.twitter.com/ltGwFTrk1Q — The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) March 18, 2020

"[San Francisco Mayor London Breed] said to me that people are allowed — if they need to go out and go for a walk and get a breath of fresh air — they're allowed to, as long as they social distance. But that's not what we just saw. We saw people going for jogs, people going about their life as if it's normal. We're being told by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health that this is not normal.

"First of all, we see a bunch of people who are not social distancing. they're holding hands and walking down the street ... This is actually kind of enraging. The people of San Francisco — I shouldn't say the people, many people in San Francisco — have clearly not gotten the message."

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The city's shelter-in-place order does allow for outdoor exercise, provided it is done with at least six feet between individuals at all times.

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The segment was not well-received by some locals, who pointed out that the usually well-populated stretch was not indicative of the Bay Area's quarantine efforts as a whole.

"Love CNN and I don’t like to see this erroneous posting about San Francisco. You are clearly not here. That is empty for the Embarcadero," one person tweeted at the show.

"Please don’t take one picture of SF and make broad conclusions," added another. "The city is shut down! A few people walking on embarcadero is not a good example!"

Over seven million Bay Area residents have been ordered to shelter in place through April 7 as medical experts fear coronavirus cases are set to peak in the United States.

"We've been talking about the testing, we've been talking about the need for hospital preparedness, we've been talking about the need for social distancing. I don't think any of those things have been done yet, Jake," Gupta said on CNN Tuesday. "We're still way behind on testing. It's not at all clear to me that hospitals are prepared for what's about to happen. And I think given that, and the different sorts of patchwork of recommendations around the country, people just aren't taking this seriously...

"They don't understand fundamentally, I think, what is happening with this virus right now."

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