>> the hon. london breed: good afternoon, everyone. thank you so much for joining us here today. we're here with dr. grant colfax of the department of public health to provide a very important update around what's happening in san francisco as it relates to covid-19. as of today, the total number of cases in san francisco are 13,139. the total number of

hospitalizations are 36. sadly, the total number of deaths has reached 151, and we are seeing 5,000, almost 6,000 tests per day. our positivity rate has went from a record low to now 1.28%, and what does all this mean? we are seeing an uptick. two weeks ago, we put a pause on our reopening efforts, and we made it clear to the people of san francisco that we are seeing the number of cases increase, and we should be concerned. we had plans. we had plans not only to continue our reopening efforts, but we had planned to really expand so many services, so many businesses, and a number of other i think thisethings, o

weeks ago, we knew we were probably headed in this direction, and sadly, what we're seeing today has put us in a situation where we have to take a moment and to recognize that there is a problem. the upticks that we have seen are really a cause for concern, and it's put us in a situation where we have had to make yet another hard choice. san francisco has been praised over the past couple months around the number of cases, our testing capacity and positivity rate and having one of the lowest number of cases in the country, but that's only because many of have been very cooperative and have supported the efforts that we put forward. and unfortunately, you know, we've been in this for a long

time now, and people are tired, and so people have gotten complacent, and as a result, because of behavior, we're seeing an uptick. and as a result of that uptick, it has forced our city to make some very, very hard decisions, and not just pause the reopening efforts, but to, in fact, roll back some of the gains that we have made. so sadly, beginning the end of the day friday, we will need to eliminate indoor dining, we will need to reduce capacity as gyms and movie theaters. we will be putting a pause on opening additional high schools, and so there are a number of things that, unfortunately, we will now need to do as a result of this. and dr. colfax will talk a

little bit more about what that entails why we are in a place of doing something that i wish we didn't have to do, because i understand, especially as the weather gets colder and it's the holiday season, and people are starting to hire back their employees and purchase food and get prepared, that this is having a tremendous impact on so many businesses and, in particular, the restaurant industry in san francisco. i understand that, you know, we're not making any roll backs on any elementary or any middle schools because what we know about high schools is, unfortunately, the transmission rate is similar to adults, so

we need to put a pause on opening high schools, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't move forward and get our elementary and middle schools open as soon as possible. in fact, we know that the board of education has plans to vote on a resolution to get our schools back open sooner rather than later. we are committed as a city to work with them to do just that. this concern around this uptick does not mean that we cannot still move in a direction to get our schools open sooner rather than later. we also know that, again, some of our cibusinesses are struggling, and we can't do it

alone. just recently, we put out some information around providing some additional support for our restaurants. $2.5 million in fee and tax waivers, $1 million in grants to restaurants to support outdoor dining, and we're redirecting the $3,500,000 interest s.f. help loans towards low and moderate income residents. we know that help is needed, we can't do it alone. this is why i wholeheartedly support the restaurant act, h.r. 107, which will support investing $20 billion in restaurants in this country. we need to do more, but the fact is the virus is spreading, and we have to make the hard decisions. the good news is that we have a

new president and a new vice president, and we just heard the good news yesterday that we made progress on the vaccine, but those things aren't going to help us today with what we're seeing. they're going to help us for the future, but for now, we have to make sure that we're protecting and saving lives here in the city right now. it's a very hard thing to think about just what impact this is going to have on the people of san francisco. when making these decisions, we don't take them lightly. we look at the science, we look at the data. we think about every single restaurant and every single school and every single business that has not collected any revenue whatsoever since this pandemic began. we understand cthat challenges exist, and it's why we've continued to recavamp our jobs

now program to pay for employees, and deferred and even waived city fees, and we will continue to work to do as much as we can, and like i said, we're not going to do it alone. we're going to count on the decisions made in washington to provide some additional support that could help put us in a better place. but for now, we have to do what's necessary to protect the people of san francisco. and so when there are people who are out, not wearing their masks and not following the public health orders and doing things that, sadly, spread the virus, then it causes us additional delays on our reopening efforts. when i think about, you know, what's been happening as it relates to the virus, we know that in the past, we talk about the disproportional impacts with particularly the latino

community. we made a record $28 million investment to try and curb that, and the good news is we're seeing the numbers change slightly. so we are seeing is more impact by the virus. we're seeing people hanging out at the bars and some of the places, and we're seeing masks coming off and people who are getting comfortable and complacent. this virus definitely reacts to behavior that does not follow the suggested public health guidelines around mask wearing and social distancing, and so we know that we're going to have to change our behavior as we come possible the holiday season. we know that people are going to want to get together, families and friends, and it's a little bit colder outside, so people are going to want to be -- they're going to want to be indoors, and so we're going

to have to think about how that's going to impact this virus and its ability to move around. the hard choices that we make now will help make things better in the future. it will get our city open, it will get our businesses open, it will get our kids back in school faster, so we have to continue to make the hard choices. i know that the people of this city are tired of me asking so much of you. time and time again, i've come out here and have asked you things that make it very, very difficult for you in your life, whether it's taking care of your children, your elderly parent, or even going to work, but we need everyone's cooperation, we need everyone's support. we know this has not been easy. we know it's not been easy for so many people for so long, and

we didn't think we'd be in the midst of a pandemic as long as we are. we're seeing places like europe, where they've had to roll back their reopening efforts. we've seen upticks all over the country, not just san francisco. and the reason why -- and so many of you have been understanding, and you've cooperated. so i want to thank you for doing that, but we are asking for a lot more, i know. and as we approach the holiday season, we need everyone to be mindful as to what is at stake. making a decision to support opening a business and then asking that business to close, it is heartbreaking. it is very, very unfortunate, but it is necessary, and the

way that we make sure that this does not continue to happen is if we realize that the possibility of rolling back even more could happen if we don't change our behavior. so sadly, we are at a different place. i'm hopeful that we are going to have a president and vice president that is already working on a covid response and a national response around wearing masks and doing what's necessary in order to get this country through this because even if san francisco is doing well, it means nothing if everyone else isn't. think about this holiday season and people traveling and moving around more. that could potentially spread the virus, so we're asking people not to do unnecessary traveling at this time because we really want to get this

undercontrol under control so next year, we're able to do exactly what we want, and that's celebrate with one another. we're asking you to sacrifice so we can get back to life as we know it. this is hard, yes, but it's necessary. i want to thank you again for your cooperation and understanding. this is really tough to put a pause and to hold back some of the things. i know how hard this is to do, especially with reopening businesses and things that people were preparing for, and the cost of that preparation.

we're going to do everything-- continue to do everything we can as a city to make sure we support our communities and our businesses and our schools and our families. it is a hard, long road, but we're going to get through this. a vaccine is inevitable, but it's not here yet. so at this time, to provide clarity around the data and what it means and to provide specifically detail around what will open and what will be paused right now, the director of the department of public health, dr. grant colfax.

>> good afternoon. dr. grant colfax, director of public health for the city and county of san francisco, and thank you, mayor breed. as always, we are fortunate as a city to have your leadership and tenacity. today, we are unfortunately taking a step back. we are taking a step back to ensure that we can move forward in the future. if we take these steps today,

we can mitigate the spread of the virus and, in the long run, we will be safer and stronger. but this is difficult, and this is a sacrifice. we are halting indoor dining, pausing on in-person learning at additional high schools, and reducing the capacity of some indoor activities. this is because the spread of the virus is aggressive and threatening. let me do a deep dive to show you where we are, and where we could be headed if we do not take these aggressive steps. our cases in san francisco have been increasing dramatically over the last month. we have seen cases increase, as shown in this slide, by 250% since early october, and, in

the past two weeks, from october 21 through november 5, our rate has increased from 3.7 per 100,000 people to 9 per 100,000 residents. we are averaging nearly 80 new cases a day now, up from just 32 new cases at the end of october, and this is consistent, unfortunately, with what we are seeing across california and across the bay area region. in fact, while california still remains in much better shape in terms of case increases compared to the rest of the nation, california has seen a 29% increase in cases in the past two weeks. so where may we be headed if we

do not reverse this trend? let's go to the next slide. this shows how cases are increasing, and the projection for those cases. so you can see on this slide that we're in a position where cases have increased dramatically. our reproductive rate of the virus, that rate which the virus spread through the community, has increased above 1, meaning cases will continue to increase dramatically in the future. as you can see, we will go up to over 300 cases a day by late december if this increase continues, a sharp, rapid increase in cases. reproductive rate above 1, remember, that means that the

virus is rapidly spreading through our community. let's go to the next slide. so our current level of increase is greater than the last surge. this suggests much greater transmission and has the potential to be explosive. the orange line here shows what happened this summer, when we had that summer surge of the virus. we peaked in our cases on july 19, but again, as this slide indicates, we are on track to exceed the surge in the summer as our current cases show -- are shown here in blue. so that blue line indicates

since july 25. that summer surge is imposed on the orange line, at the beginning of that summer surge, june 15 to june 30. the point is not only this increase that we're having now in this fall surge commensurate with this increase. this means if we do not turn this around, our fall surge will exceed our summer surge. if we stay on our current course of activities, if we do not pause, and we do not reverse, it is entirely plausible that we will face a situation where our health care system could become overwhelmed and reverse the community progress that we've made all

these many months. therefore -- next slide -- our action today will limit indoor activities. we will close indoor dining and bars serving food 11:59 fridfridap.m. friday -- this friday. we will also close -- we will also limit -- can i have the next slide, please? i think there's a next slide here. yes. we will also pause the opening of more high schools and restaurants and movie theaters.

schoo high schools already open wi high schools that are open at this time will be allowed to stay open, and elementary and middle schools will be allowed to continue open, but high schools that are not open at this time will be paused as we determine our next steps in possible reopening or even a further restriction of activities. i also wanted to discuss the holiday season, which is quickly approaching, and we need to remember that the virus is not only still with us, but there is more around than ever before. the virus, unfortunately, has no boundaries, no limit, and unfortunately, it certainly does not have a holiday

schedule. today's announcement goes a long way in making sure that we will have a much healthier holiday season. as we move into these holiday months, we are maintaining our focus on our hospital capacity and ensuring san franciscans can receive the care that they need during this holiday season. and we want to do everything we can to avoid reinstating a shelter in place order that would unfortunately shut our city down for the holidays. and even if we beat back the rapid and aggressive spread of covid-19 that is currently racing through our city, we must continue to act with caution and diligence during this holiday season. this means following the principles and guidelines that i have been sharing with all of you since the beginning of the covid-19 response. and i know that these messages

continue to remain demeaning, but we have to continue to beat back the virus. for the holidays, our guidance includes the following. traveling outside the bay area increases your chance of getting the virus and spreading it upon your return. nonessential travel, including holiday travel, is not recommended. additional precautions must be taken when hosting and interacting with people who are traveling to the bay area, especially from other communities with widespread covid-19. wear face masks and stay 6 feet away from people outside your immediate household, and that includes family members who are

not in your immediate household. eating and drinking together is higher risk because people must takeoff their masks to eat and drink. restaurants are often relaxed around social distancing, while eating and drinking create more respirato respiratory droplets. please, have that holiday meal in person only with the ones you live with. join your family over the holidays on zoom, on teams, on the phone. this is not the year to pull together a big holiday table with multiple households, multiple members of your family indoors, potentially spreading the virus to your loved ones. if you do have a holiday dinner or gathering, please,