SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – Medical experts are saying that steps taken in California, specifically the Bay Area, have done more than just flatten the curve, but they warn that the success could be fleeting if people become complacent.

“There is less virus on our community due to shelter in place and and stay home policy,” Dr. Warner Green said.

Virologist Dr. Warner Green with San Francisco’s Gladstone Institute says as a result of early decision making, California and most notably the Bay Area has done more than flatten the curve when it comes to the coronavirus.

“We crushed it and California in general has crushed it,” Green said.

He says California will soon be better positioned than most places in the country to return to work.

“Now we have a second chance to as we re enter society to bring testing to the forefront and identify the infected individuals and their contacts and isolate the infected individual and quarantine the contacts. That’s the way you control the infections,” Green said.

But until there’s a vaccine some things will remain in place, such as wearing masks, social distancing in public and at work, and no mass gatherings.

“The virus won’t relax and we can’t either, we have to maintain and realize this virus is highly infectious and anytime we congregate in ways that used to be quite normal this virus take advantage of that,” Green said.

Those type of crowds were evident Sunday at Dolores Park forcing police and park rangers to remind people of the shelter order’s social distancing guidelines.

“I will say this is hard to do. It’s stressful, it’s tiring but it’s even harder to deal with situations that we have seen elsewhere and we need to commit ourselves to social distancing and public health measures necessary,” Dr. Grant Colfax said.

San Francisco’s Health Director says residents cannot become complacent and other experts agree, if that happens the bay area and state’s successes can quickly turn.

“Let’s not replace cabin fever with COVID fever,” Green said.

Latest Stories: