San Francisco, other Bay Area counties extend shelter-in-place order 'through May'

San Francisco Mayor London Breed (R) speaks during a press conference as San Francisco police chief William Scott (L) looks on at San Francisco City Hall on March 16, 2020 in San Francisco, California. San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced a shelter in place order for residents in San Francisco until April 7. The order will allow people to leave their homes to do essential tasks such as grocery shopping and pet walking. less San Francisco Mayor London Breed (R) speaks during a press conference as San Francisco police chief William Scott (L) looks on at San Francisco City Hall on March 16, 2020 in San Francisco, California. San ... more Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Image 1 of / 45 Caption Close San Francisco, other Bay Area counties extend shelter-in-place order 'through May' 1 / 45 Back to Gallery

San Francisco County officials announced Monday the city and county's stay-at-home orders will remain in effect through the end of May amidst a still-growing number of COVID-19 cases across the Bay Area and state.

The orders were previously set to expire May 3.

In a press conference Monday, Breed explained the decision and acknowledged the extension is "for some of you the most challenging time of your lives."

"I've asked you to do that through the deadline with the hopes of maybe moving it back to allowing the city to open, and today, unfortunately, we will need to extend the deadline for the stay-at-home order for the month of May," Breed said. "I know this is again very challenging."

Breed and the San Francisco Director of Public Health both noted city officials are primarily looking at data to inform decisions around when shelter-in-place guidelines might be loosened. Now, they clarified, is too soon to reopen the city, but Breed is nevertheless planning for what a reopened San Francisco might look like.

"As we extend this stay-at-home order, it is going to be important for us to look for ways we can develop along with our health expert's policies that will get us back to plans in order to open our city again," she said. "Let me be clear: Public health is our priority. Taking the data and the information from our public health experts and using that to make determinations around what we can and can't do is critical to making sure that we're protected."

Earlier Monday, San Francisco, in tandem with five other Bay Area counties — Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo and Santa Clara — announced extensions "through May" to their respective shelter-in-place orders. The guidelines, released in a joint statement, also mention a “limited easing of specific restrictions for a small number of lower-risk activities,” but did not specify what those activities might be. A specific end date for the extended shelter-in-place order was also not given.

"This global pandemic of COVID-19 is still in its early stages," the statement read. "The virus spreads easily, testing capacity is limited and expanding slowly, and vaccine development is just beginning. We expect to be responding to COVID-19 in our communities for a long time. As effective as our efforts have been, if we move too fast to ease restrictions, the potential of exponential spread could have grave impacts to health and wellness of our residents as well as the economy."

Bay Area counties have largely been under shelter-in-place orders since March 17.

Last week, Breed announced it was probable that the May 3 end of San Francisco's shelter-in-place was likely premature, and that an impending extension of the order was "very likely."

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“What that means is another few weeks or another month of asking you all to comply to remain at home and continue to follow the social distancing orders we’ve put forth," she said.

There are currently 1,424 cases of COVID-19 in San Francisco, with 23 fatalities.

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Alyssa Pereira is an SFGate digital editor. Email: alyssa.pereira@sfgate.com | Twitter: @alyspereira

