San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Monday elaborated on plans to allow for the partial reopening of several businesses throughout the city starting next week, following updated state guidelines.
Retailers deemed nonessential, including bookstores, florists, music stores, hobby shops, home furnishing stores, beauty supply stores and sewing stores can reopen under strict new safety guidelines for storefront pickup and delivery service only as soon as May 18.
"I know that people are anxious to see our city reopen," Breed said Monday. "I’m anxious to see our city reopen. This has been a very tough and challenging time for all of us."
Despite this step, the city's stay-at-home order will remain in effect through at least May 31.
Calling the reopening of these businesses "a big step" and an indication of the city's progress in fighting the disease, Breed also warned that doing so was "definitely a big risk."
"The more access we provide people with, where there is a contact with another human being, the more the possibility that infections can spread," she said.
Breed noted that San Francisco has ramped up its testing capacity — with more than 36,600 tests already conducted — offering tests to all essential workers and any residents with symptoms, regardless of insurance or immigration status. She also said the city is repurposing an "extra few hundred" unused hotel rooms that it had reserved for front-line health workers, making them available to infected lower-income residents who can't self-quarantine.
— Matthew Green (@MGreenKQED)