San Francisco and five other Bay Area counties in California have ordered all residents to shelter-in-place to curb the spread of coronavirus, in a drastic move similar to ones taken in Italy, Spain and China, but the first of its kind in the US.

The order came on Monday following a 14% increase in positive coronavirus cases in California, with 335 reported and six deaths. More than a third of all positive cases were in Santa Clara county, the home of Silicon Valley, as well as two deaths. San Francisco has had 40 positive cases.

More than 6.7 million people live in San Francisco and the five counties issuing the order – Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda. The order, which goes into effect at midnight Tuesday until 7 April, does not confine residents to their home unless they have permission to leave, as the lockdown orders in Italy and China do, but directs them to stay inside unless absolutely necessary.

All businesses considered non-essential – such as bars and gyms – were ordered to close, and their workers to work from home. But London Breed, the San Francisco mayor, made a point to emphasize that grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants serving takeout, gas stations and other “essential businesses” would remain open, while municipal services such as garbage collection will continue.

“The time now is not to panic,” Breed said in a news conference. “It’s for us to come together. It’s for us to follow the directives. It’s to do everything in our respective capacities to prevent the spread of coronavirus so we can get past this very challenging time.”

Residents can go to the grocery store, the laundromat, the doctor and to perform essential work, as well as to engage in outdoor exercise that complies with social distancing requirements.

“With this order in place, you will still be able to get food, care for relatives, run necessary errands and conduct the essential parts of your life,” said Dr Grant Colfax, the director of the San Francisco department of public health. “You will still be able to walk your dog or go on a hike alone or with someone you live with or even with another person as long as you keep six feet between you.”

California governor directs all bars and nightclubs to close as coronavirus spreads Read more

Last week, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, recommended that all gatherings of 250 or more be postponed or rescheduled, and Santa Clara county and San Francisco promptly issued orders canceling or postponing all gatherings of 100 or more. Now all non-essential gatherings of any size are prohibited, as well as non-essential travel “on foot, bicycle, scooter, automobile or public transit”.

Under the order, essential travel is categorized as traveling for necessary supplies, accessing healthcare or going to provide aid to family or friends. Airports, taxis and public transit will continue running, but only for essential travel. Those using any mode of travel are expected to practice social distancing.

The order requests that the sheriff and chief of police “ensure compliance with and enforce this order”. William Scott, the San Francisco police chief, explained that while the order was enforceable as a misdemeanor, his officers would be taking a “compassionate, commonsense approach” and looking at it more as an “education process”.

“We’re looking for voluntary compliance,” he said. “This order, by law, is enforceable as a misdemeanor. But that is an absolutely last resort. This is not about a criminal justice response to a public health issue.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A billboard in Oakland, California, advertises a local news station’s app that provides updates on the coronavirus. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

People who are homeless are exempt from the order, but are urged to find shelter. An estimated 25,000 people were unsheltered in San Francisco and these five counties during the last homeless count.

On Monday afternoon in Oakland, as news of the order spread, many people headed out to stock up on last-minute supplies. Lines at grocery stores stretched outside the door. In an effort to control the size of the in-store crowd, security guards at Sprouts let in customers no more than 20 at a time. Across the street at Target, meanwhile, security guard Luis Lugo said it was “busier than Christmas”.

Foot traffic on the streets of the city’s Chinatown was slower than usual for midday lunchtime, but last-minute shoppers still crisscrossed the streets, bags in hand, many wearing masks.

A mother walking grabbed her daughter’s hand, making sure to give passing strangers a wide berth. Produce bins have been picked over and emptied as the line at Yuen Hop Noodle Company, a market, snaked to the back of the store.

Next door, at Cam Anh, half the buffet bins, usually brimming, had been grabbed up by customers as the restaurant prepared for the coming days.



“Here, we have so much freedom, and people do what they want,” said the cashier, who declined to give her name. “In China, if the government says do it, you better do it, and you better do it right,” she said of the impending lockdown.

Public activity has been on the decline these past few weeks in the Bay Area, with many office workers, in the tech industry and beyond, working from home. Ridership on public transit dropped 61% from the month before, as some restaurants and cafes were forced to temporarily shutter, both as a precaution and because of fewer customers.

On Sunday, Newsom directed the closure of all bars, wineries, nightclubs and brewpubs in the state and called for all seniors age 65 years or older to stay in home isolation.

Eric Garcetti, the Los Angeles mayor, took the guidelines a step further and ordered the closure of all bars and nightclubs that do not serve food, as well as all movie theaters, gyms, fitness centers, arcades, live performance venues and bowling alleys. All restaurants were also prohibited from allowing dining in.

On Monday, 85% of California’s students were out of school, with 51% of the state’s public school districts closed to prevent the spread of the virus.

Newsom announced on Monday that the state is prepared to spend $1bn on emergency coronavirus aid. He asked the state legislature to immediately free up $500m to address coronavirus, a fund that will be increased by $50m as needed until reaching a maximum of $1bn.

These funds will also go towards local governments to help address coronavirus among homeless communities, providing hotel beds for the unsheltered.

“Our state, our nation and our world are facing a challenge unprecedented in modern times,” Newsom said in a letter to the assembly and senate. “The Covid-19 pandemic compels us all to find new ways of coming together, even as we must also seek out new ways of staying apart.

Mario Koran and Kari Paul contributed reporting in Oakland