it will open with twenty patients. it's not expected to treat covid positive patients. when i starred this i facility i was truly impressed at the first rate medical facility. the city's ability to confront covid 19 depends on our ability to care for those with all manner of conditions. sprained angels to heart

attacks. other ailments are not stopping just because of the pandemic. opening this facility will shore up our ability for the hospitals to treat covid 19. it is not a drop in acute care site testing location or shelter. please do not visit this location if you are seeking any of those services sm as the district two supervisor i would be remiss to not note the response to local emergencies.

we're an incredible resource and i'm grateful for the partnership with press i hapartnershipwith.a >> good mark morning. i'm director of health. thank you for your support during this unprecedented time. today like if everyday, i check the number of patient patients h

covid 19. unfortunately that number is higher than ever before and continues to climb. that number dropped to just 26 patients six weeks ago. today, it's one hundred and seven. of those one quarter are very sick and in intensive care. across the city we have more than six thousand cases of covid 19. and look, it took us thirty eight days to go from two thousand to three thousand cases. of half as long to go from three thousand to four thousand.

in just ten days we went from five thousand to six thousand cases of covid 19. let me be clear, we are in a major surge of covid 19. the virus is moving fast and more people are getting seriously ill. if things continue, we estimate we'll have more than 750 san franciscans in the hospital by october. plausible worst case scenarios put us at twenty four hundred hospitalizations and eighteen hundred deaths. these scenarios unfortunately become more likely as each day goes by with the current trend.

today, fortunately all patients are getting world class treatment from the most caring professionals sm we wisals. we still have capacity to care for patients. it is good news that our health care system has not yet been overwhelmed as we saw in new york. many are contributing to that by staying home, avoiding gathering, covering your faces when go ting out, washing your hands sm you are preventing more

illness and spread and keep our health care system functioning. our city must prepare for this surge. how many people-that puts us in the red zone of one of our key health indicators. we've been there for over a month. it's extremely sobering that we reached this point. it's extremely concerning. our reopening remains on pause. the main reason we joined the watch list was because of our rapidly growing rates.

our goal is to keep the increase to less than 10%. since january the health department has been planning and preparing for covid 19. we built up the capacity of our health care system. we added testing sites a sites. today supervisor stephanie announced, we're creating a care site that we hope we will not

need. it's located in the presidio but will serve all san franciscans. it will serve patients who no longer need acute care but are not ready to go home. they would have medical medical supervision and care from staff. i hope this day won't come. we hope our hospitals will never need to open the relief that this site represents. that depends on you. all of us. please.

please wear a mask. it's really not that hard. i want to see san francisco open schools instead of medical sites. we want to see houses of worship open their doors. sit in their favorite barbers chair. hug our grand children again. we can make that happen. we still have time to turn this around. if we want those things we can't take chances and hope this virus is not as infectious as the data and facts tell us it is. everyone needs to behave as

though each of us has covid 19. think about that. we know half as many doap don'te symptoms at some period. be careful. every time you wear a mask, socially distance. wash your hands. avoid gatherings. you're moving closer to the day we can live more like we did before march. everyday you take a risk you move us farther away from that day. we can prove testimon works aga.

covering our faces may be the most important. on friday san francisco updated the orders. everyone over the age of ten should wear a face covering. if you're alone in a space that people might use later, cover your face. if you're handling food for other face, cover your face. basically, cover your face. if you're passing someone on the sidewalk, your face must be covered. other things we must do. washing our hand hands, stayingx feet apart. if you are meeting.

meet out side if you can. of course, please you must stay home if you can. short of the vaccine or cure of covid 19 these are the most effective interventions that we have available to us. they work if we take them up and practice these behaviors everyday. you can do this. it's up to us to flatten the curve again. thank you. >> thank you doctor and thank you supervisor stephanie for your time. we'll begin the q and a portion of this meeting. we have a variety of questions

for dr. co lfax. the first question is from the associated press. we haven't seen the devastation in the homeless communities. why do you think that is? >> i think it's a number of factors that so far have helped us avoid worse case scenarios with people experiencing homelessness, we took action early on with our partners and support of housing and with our community seven is agency part mere ins. ensuring that best practices were rapidly a applied. people had the materials necessary to reduce the spread.

other key interventions that we did is make available hundreds of hotel rooms so people experiencing c homelessness were able to shelter in place. over thirty five hundred people have been placed in those hotel rooms. we've done a lot of out reach work on the street. providing hygiene. we had an intense clinical team that provided health care for people before the pandemic. this team has been working around the clocke clock to ensue people get the best care.

it's a variety of actions that we've taken to avoid some of the outcomes we've seen in other jurisdictions. >> thank you, doctor. the next set of questions are from ab c seven. face shields should be worn in addition to face masks. do you for se for see this beina requirement. >> the most important thing is that we ensure in public that everyone is wearing a face covering if they are over ten years of age. we've been very clear that

protecting our health care workers is key. >> how close is san francisco to getting off the watch list? >> we continue to see increases above the 50% hospitalization rates. i can't speculate on how soon. we are in a major surge here and anticipating on average seven hundred fifty in the hospital by october. if we're on and off the watch list what is key is we work to flatten the curve and recommit ourselves. we did it before and we can do it again. it's going to take the whole

community to make this work. >> are social gatherings the major reason for the surge. >> it's a major ko contributor. people should not be using testing to determine whether they should gather. if someone is infected, the virus is extremely contagious. they are contributing to this increase. if you go to a gathering and somebody has the virus and is going to transmit it.

we have to understand that with more virus in the community you saw how quickly we went from four thousand to five thousand tcases. please, please don't gather. >> we have a handful of questions about san francisco issuing fines on people who don't wear masks in public. >> we've been emphasizing the needs of these masks and the social distancing as we continue to emif i if emphasize.

we're schorrin exploring how wey increase enforcement particularly in situations where requirements that are very clear are not being followed. this would be enforced following up with businesses an other situations where people gather. we're working with communities for voluntary compliance. we're looking at increasing

enforcement. in regards to the press ci the . who is paying for it and who will staff it? >> the city is funding the site. it will be staff by health departments and u c sf providers. we'll take care of 93 patients. m>> what has it historically ben used for and is