ou take, including herbal supplements. taking amiodarone with epclusa may cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. common side effects include headache and tiredness. ask your doctor today, if epclusa is your kind of cure. the coronavirus leading to unprecedented measures being ordered in the bay area starting at midnight. millions of people are being told they should stay home. >> what if you depend upon public transportation to get around? we are expect an update from the major transit agencies at any minute. >> hospitals are front and center when it comes to dealing with the coronavirus, of course. the action they are taking to make sure they have enough beds. >> and another ground zero grocery stores as people try to stock up on staples. the message for those who are worried. >> announcer: now from abc7, live break news. >> department of building inspection. >> let's go to breaking news san francisco officials updating us

on public transportation. >> the department of public health. like i said, if you could hold your questions until the last speaker, then you will be asked for questions. you will be selected for a question so we can keep it orderly and have everyone hear what the question is. so francis zamora from department of emergency management will be calling on questioners. okay, we'll get started in a couple minutes. mary ellen carol, executive director for the department of emergency management will be the first speaker. >> all right. we are listening to public officials updating us in san francisco. we're going to come back to this in just a moment. >> i'm mary ellen carol, the director of department of emergency management here in san francisco. thank you for being here. i just want to remind everyone about the priorities of san francisco. our priorities are to protect the health and safety of san

francisco abc new-- san francis. this is a constantly and rapidly changing situation and we are working hard to be aggressive to flatten the curve, to disrupt the spread of covid-19 and protect community health. and finally, we call on all san franciscans to do their part, to help protect our most vulnerable residents by staying at home, practicing good hygiene, checking on people by phone if possible who might be isolated. what we are doing at our emergency operation center is we are working closely with all of our city agencies, many who are represented here, to support the direction of the department of public health. we are also supporting essential city services that need to remain open. this includes supporting essential personnel, making sure

city services have the resources they need to maintain regular cleaning, and helping outside agencies understand how to implement social distancing. finally, the e.o.c. will continue to shelter and care for people impacted by covid-19 and vulnerable populations. before we move on, again, i think the most important thing we want to share with folks is that this is evolving, that we may not have all the answers to questions, but we want to hear those questions so that we can work those and turn those back out to folks as we know there are a lot. at this point i'm going to turn it over to my colleague, director jeffrey tumlin from sfmta. >> good evening. my name is jeffrey tumlin,

director of transportation for san francisco. as all of you know, public transportation is an essential government service. it is how our nurses and firefighters get to work, and it is how our residents get their groceries and prescription drugs. so we will be working hard to ensure that public transit continues throughout this public health emergency, to ensure that people can get to work and get the services and supplies that they need. at muni, we're working to rearrange services, to decrease the amount of financial district express service in order to reallocate service to our neighborhood lines and to lines that serve our critical health care facilities, so that our passengers can better maintain social distance while on the bus. for the health emergency, we will also be eliminating service on the cable cars and f and e lines in order to protect the health of our operators. ensuring that on all of the

lines that we're operating, that our operators have a partition between their operating cabin and the rest of the transit vehicle. as you all know, muni vehicles are thoroughly cleaned every night and our stations are wiped down four times a day for areas that experience a high amount of touch. our car cleaners have been phenomenally dedicated throughout this process and will continue to be so, and our operators continue to show up at work. in fact, today despite the closure of schools, we had a higher than average attendance of our bus and rail operators. we'll be continuing to make announcements throughout as conditions change, and also working on changing some of our parking enforcement, tow citation and fee policies in order to accommodate the health emergency. we understand that many of our public will be affected by this emergency and we are immediately

suspending all late penalties for failure to pay citations, as well as stopping sending any late citations on to dmv or to collections. we are temporarily stopping enforcement of parking control measures that are not related to public health, safety and accessibility. effective immediately, we are suspending enforcement of residential parking permits, peak hour tollways and parking for longer than 72 hours. we will, however, need to continue enforcement of rules related to public health, safety, and the accessibility of services. this includes street cleaning, blocking of bike lanes, double parking and parking in transit-only lanes. meters will continue to be enforced because our businesses will be open providing essential services for people and likely increasing the rate of driving to some of our neighborhood commercial districts. as you all know, this is a continually changing situation, and we urge you to go to

sfmta.com for further updates. thank you. and bob powers is up next. our next speaker is bob powers, general manager of bart. >> good afternoon. how is everybody doing this afternoon? so, bob powers, i'm the general manager with bart. just a couple of updates on bart. so, first, bart is an essential service. you just heard from the director for sfmta about public transportation. bart is an essential service. and our workers, our front line employees, stand ready to provide reliable mobility and to provide essential service to workers who are our first responders who are providing health care services, who are providing social services, and for the folks who are working at grocery stores and institutions

that need to be kept open in these trying times. so bart's ready to do that. we are providing regular service. once again, bart will be providing regular service with long enough trains that will allow for essential distancing. that's happening right now. we are disinfecting and doubling down on the cleaning to keep our riders and our front line employees safe. every night our cars are being cleaned. the trains are being wiped down. routinely we're getting comments through the twitter sphere about how well the stations are looking and what a nice job we're doing there. so bart police and employees who are essential to running service are going to continue to report to work. others have been asked to work from home. if you're sick, bart is asking that you not ride bart. if your travel isn't essential, we are asking that you follow

the order and not ride bart. and lastly, the trains must continue to run to ensure that the lifeline services for those workers who are going to keep our region functioning during these trying times is available for them to get to where they need to go. and with that, i will turn it over to the director of homeless services, mr. kaszynski. >> good afternoon, jeff kaszynski. i'm the director of the department of homelessness and supportive housing. every night our department and our nonprofit partners are providing shelter and housing to over 13,000 homeless and formerly homeless people. one of our top priorities is ensuring that the clients in that housing and shelter and our staff who are providing essential services are able to continue to operate in a safe environment. we are doing all that we can to ensure that those services

continue, and that the staff and the clients are kept safe. our other priority is to ensure that we are educating people who are currently unsheltered, sleeping in the streets and vehicles or in tents, to provide them with information about covid-19, about social distancing. we've also provided over 20 hand washing stations throughout the city and are working to keep our shelters and other programs open as long as possible so people have access to basic hygiene. and lastly, we are very focused on preparing for what happens if there is an outbreak in a congress re ga congregant setting. we are working with the department of public services and d.e.m. for creating spaces for people who need to self-isolate or to be quarantined. with that, i will introduce my colleague trent rhor from the -- >> you are watching a news conference coming out of san

francisco city hall. basically the mta announcing they are cancelling the cable car line due to the fact that there is no separation partition or protection for the operators and also the e and f lines for service. however, they emphasize that muni will for the most part still run and they wipe it down four times a day minimum, and bart also, dan, as you heard is an essential service. they will continue as well, but due to decreased ridership, you actually have room to social distance yourself from other passengers. >> right. he also made the point they will run long enough trains to allow for people to maintain social distance. you also heard from the director of homeless and supportive housing. all of the essential services in san francisco outlining how they will continue to provide what is necessary in the city. ok, so maybe we're new to home improvement, but we're determined. we got an insider tip on the ultimate flooring destination. whoa. floor and decor is amazing. look at us. we're shopping alongside real-life designers and contractors.

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six-county shelter-in-place order. abc7 news reporter chris nguyen begins our team coverage in san jose right now to tell us what the order will mean for all of us. chris? >> reporter: hi, kristen. well, the ordinance has a direct impact on the lives of nearly 6.7 million people across the bay area. public health officials making it clear that now is the time to act. tonight, the bay area braces for a virtual public shutdown. >> sheltering in place is a core strategy. by staying home you reduce your risk of becoming exposed, which means that we reduce the risk of transmission. >> reporter: the public health officers of alameda, contra costa, marin, san francisco, san mateo, and santa clara counties along with the city of berkeley jointly issuing a legal order for all residents to shelter at home for the next three weeks. >> we decided collectively that we needed to take swift action as soon as possible to prevent

the further spread and to protect our critical health care infrastructure. >> reporter: essential businesses will still be allowed to operate, with public and personal travel to and from these services permitted under the order. businesses that provide food, shelter and social services can remain open, including grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies, gas stations, banks, plumbing and laundry. restaurants can offer take-out. fire, police, medical and essential government functions will continue. >> these orders were crafted with great thought and with great care. they are also crafted very, very quickly. >> reporter: santa clara county supervisor cindy chavez says enforcement of the order will be up to the police and sheriff's departments of each city and county. >> we as a community can completely handle this. our goal right now is to make sure we have as few people as possible straining our medical resources so we're only using those for people who are most in need. >> reporter: again, the message

is quite simple. don't leave your home unless you have to. these restrictions are expected to be in place over the next three weeks until april 7th. we're live in san jose. i'm chris nguyen, abc7 news. >> chris, thank you. great information. of course, you can leave your home to go for a walk or hike. just stay away from people, take the dog for a walk, that kind of thing. about the same time the news conference was going on in san jose, san francisco mayor london breed held her own news briefing announcing changes in the city. abc7 news reporter cornell barnard was there and is live from san francisco with details on what the mayor had to say, cornell? >> reporter: yeah, well, dan, lots of changes are coming. that shelter at home order takes effect just a few short hours from now. mayor of san francisco urging everyone to be ready. >> i'll probably stay home. i'll meditate at home. it's one thing that you can do anywhere. >> reporter: folks reacting to news that millions of bay area residents must soon shelter at

home for the next three weeks to slow the spread of the coronavirus. >> so, whatever we need to do to stay alive, then that's what we need to do. >> this is not the time to panic. >> reporter: san francisco mayor london breed says the order which goes into effect at midnight will mean bars and gyms must close. restaurants will be reduced to take-out only, but essential businesses will stay open. >> the grocery stores will remain open. the gas stations will remain open. the banks will remain open. the pharmacies will remain open. there's no need to rush out to do things at these particular locations because they will be available to you. >> reporter: police chief william scott says his department doesn't plan to issue fines or make arrests. his looking for voluntary compliance during the order. >> yes, by law, enforcement is an option. but that is not our desire, that is not what we intend to do. we intend to adhere to the spirit of what this is all

about, and keeping people safe and keeping this virus from spreading. >> reporter: the health department said shelter-in-place doesn't mean you can't leave your home to get exercise. >> 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 6 feet between you. >> reporter: we're told that city workers who are not considered to be essential will still be paid during the shelter-in-place order, and the mayor, again, wants to make it perfectly clear you can still go out, do your grocery shopping, get 'car filled with gas, go to the bank, but make sure that these are essential trips, something you absolutely need to do. we're live in san francisco, cornell barnard, abc7 news. >> okay, cornell, thanks so much. while there is an order, there are also a lot of exceptions, particularly for essential services. if you need to go to the grocery store, you can. same goes for banks, pharmacies,

gas stations. we have a link to the entire order on our website. read it for yourself in its entirety, abc7news.com. >> well, the bay area saw a steady increase in the number of local covid-19 cases. santa clara county you saw the largest increase. 24 new cases for a total of 138. san mateo has the second highest number in the area at 42. san francisco's cases are also up since yesterday, now at 40. and the number of deaths is holding steady with two in santa clara county and one in san mateo. >> all right. let's talk a little about the weather forecast. it was a little challenging this weekend if you wanted to get outside and take a walk and get fresh air because it was so cold and rainy. meteorologist sandhya patel is here, at safe distance. >> definitely playing it safe. we will see some more showers and there will be some sunshine as well. so if you want to get out and get fresh air, this is your opportunity. take a look at live doppler 7 now. still unsettled patterns.

as we check out the view around mount hamilton, they are seeing snow around street level radar. 101 morgan hale avenue. definitely seeing wet weather. keep umbrellas handy. as you look at our radar to the west, winery road, we are seeing mixed precip takes. it's a level 1 on our storm impact scale. chance of thunder, i saw a lightning strike on morgan hill and snow on our highest peak. how much rain over the tlaft two days, it ramp up as the system stalled over the south bay. santa cruz 2 inches of rain, one and a third in san jose. third after an inch in santa rosa. not as much in the north bay. oakland at the airport about an inch and a half in livermore. so some good news, special right now, we need that. temperatures right now in the 40s. 50s, a wider view showing you the slow-moving storm. it's a cold storm, dumping snow

on the sierra, dumping rain in the southern california right now. chains required on all roads except 80. here's a look until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, 3,000 feet, additional foot for the highest peaks. definitely some travel issues. not a good idea to venture out there. we're seeing buildup from the roof camera. tomorrow is chilly. you'll need the heavy coat. grab the umbrellas as well. mid 30s to low 40s. afternoon highs will look like this. on the cool side, temperatures will be mainly in the 50s across the region with more showers in the picture. so hour by hour we see the snow showers and a few showers, 6:00, 8:30 p.m., still looking at isolated activity. as we go into tomorrow morning between 5:00 and 8:00 a.m., we'll see occasional showers here and there, picking up a little more in coverage. 1:00 in the afternoon. and that trend continues well into wednesday, some coastal showers wednesday morning. starting to move on shore at

8:30 and you will notice that trend goes into 1:00 in the afternoon. additional rainfall totals will be on the light side. pretty much everyone under a third of an inch expected. maybe a third of an inch in mountain view. accuweather seven-day forecast forecast. level 1 spotty showers for saint patrick's day. still a chance on wednesday. spring begins on thursday and we will get a chance to dry out for a short period before more rain arrives friday night. right now it's a chance. and then it's a level 1 storm for saturday, sunday, and monday. so, dan, much needed rain. kristen, definitely some opportunities for you to get out and get some fresh air if you would like to do that. >> thanks, sandhya, very much. >> all right. we know a lot of people depend upon glide for its service during trying times. we have an update on its fa signature facilities. that's next. >> and the news with david muir. >> i am declaring a national emergency. >> as americans cope with the

coronavirus, information to keep

glide is reopening its facilities to help those who are the most vulnerable. it just did a deep cleansing over the weekend. it is making some adjustments, of course, to its free meal program to minimize contact, utilizing take-out containers. also with regards to church services, it will remain online until further notice. >> major league baseball is pushing back the start of its season until the middle of may. mlb said the recommendation the centers for disease put out on sunday suggests not holding events with more than 50 people the next three weeks. they delayed opening for two weeks . >> if you want to get out and walk and get exercise, practice social distancing at the same time, you're encouraged to do that. just be careful and stay away from each other. there are several landmarks in the area that are

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prevagen. healthier brain. better life. tonight, president trump and the new nationwide guidelines late today for americans across this country in the fight against the coronavirus. president trump now urging americans not to gather in groups larger than ten. to stay out of restaurants and bars. encouraging schooling from home. and the president's own warning late today that this country could be dealing with coronavirus until july or august. tonight, schools now shut down in at least 35 states. the major lockdown declared in the san francisco area. nearly 7 million people in california ordered to shelter in place at home for weeks. in new york city, the major new steps. empty shelves, and grocery store lines winding through parking lots. and the major chain announcing specific hours for shoppers 60 and older. the stock market free-fall. emergency trge