San Francisco mayor, London Breed, has announced the next steps in plans for the reopening of businesses and activities in the city.

Since the start of September, San Francisco has been moving forwards with a phased reopening process for certain activities, which means it can do so at a more gradual pace than the rest of the state.

This is pivotal for the tourism industry with hotels reopening to visitors, outdoor tour buses and boat trips resuming operations as well as leisure activities such as mini golf and indoor museums and zoos reopening across San Francisco from mid-September. 

The immediate path forward starts with outdoor activities that are lower risk and moves to indoor activities that are lower risk and with limited capacity.

As of September 1st, outdoor personal services have resumed, as well as indoor malls at limited capacity.

Additional services, businesses, and activities will resume over the coming weeks and months, as long as San Francisco continues to make progress on limiting the spread of Covid-19.

“We know our communities and businesses are anxious to get back to work and start doing some regular activities,” said Grant Colfax, director of health, San Francisco.

“We will continue our deliberate and gradual reopening as it allows us to monitor the spread, manage its immediate challenges and mitigate the long-term impact on our city.

“Our reopening pace will be informed by our ability to manage the risk of more activity that may result in more cases and hospitalisations.”

The gradual reopening of outdoor services, malls, and children’s activities will increase travel and interaction throughout the city, which means increasing community spread of the virus and an increase in cases.

More Information

The updated reopening plan from San Francisco is outlined here.