we have lost and their families and loved ones and we hope that our -- today's ceremony brings some comfort during these difficult times. do we have a motion to adjourn. >> so moved. >> second. >> clerk: a roll call vote. [roll call vote] all right, thank you, everyone. >> president bernal: thank you. to brighter days ahead. >> thank you, commissioners.

>> we are joining the city and county of san francisco public covid-19 update. for q and a, state your name, outlet and up to two questions in web ex chat. questions will no longer be taken after the last speaker's remarks and when the q and a portion begins. and now we welcome mayor london breed. >> thank you, and good morning, everyone. today we are going to share some information on our vaccine rollout and where we are with covid-19 in san francisco. first, we continue to see the impact of the december holidays. our cases are still climbing, we have 333 new cases per day, but they seem to be increasing at a slower rate. and our hospitalizations, our hospitalizations remain as high as they have been but also seem to be slowing. reproductive rate is still above

1, 1.06, but inching down and we know getting below 1 is key. and most importantly, more and more people are getting vaccinated every single day. especially our seniors who are the most vulnerable to getting sick and dying from covid. this should give us all some very real hope. it's going to be a long road, but the road will begin to lighten. i can see it if not tomorrow, but it is soon. right now we need to focus on doing the hard work each and every day to get through this. it means getting the correct information out so that people know when it's their turn to get vaccinated. and it means we need to keep wearing our masks, keep our distance from each other, and follow the public health guidance. the city need to keep finding ways to support our residents and workers in the months ahead. even as people get vaccinated.

that means helping working people get, who get covid and who need to take time off from work to isolate. in the absence of real programming from the federal government, the city has been at the forefront of providing financial relief through the right to recover program. so far, 4.5 million for the program. many from our latino community, which we all know has been disproportionately impacted by covid. today, another $6 million going forward, total support to $10.5 million. we are doing this by tapping into unused funds paid into our healthcare security ordinance funds, which is usually used to provide health insurance for workers.

early in this pandemic we used the funds in the healthcare security ordinance to provide $500 checks of need relief to people who qualify like restaurant workers and bar workers. now providing direct financial assistance for those who test positive during the pandemic. fulfilling the ideas of the healthcare security ordinance and thank our labor partners and the latino task force with helping us with this. i'm proud of the right to recover program. one of the shining examples of how the city has stepped up in the absence of federal leadership and provided support. we are continuing to move forward with distributing the vaccine through the department of public health and our private providers but we also continue to face challenges with the lack of supply. to show you what's happening in san francisco let me walk you through some slides. let's start with the department

of public health, which is charged with vaccinating workers at san francisco general, our e.m.t.s and other front line community health workers, as well as those who are 65 and older in the san francisco health network, which serves the most vulnerable and underserved people of the city. so far the department of public health has received 31,655 doses, and administered 15,545 doses. out of those doses administered, 12,920 have been first doses, and 2,625 are second doses. that puts our utilization rate at 49.1%, which is above the national average. all of the department of public health remaining vaccine doses are scheduled for individuals to receive their first or their second doses this week. and unless we get more vaccines,

the department of public health will run out of our existing supply by this thursday. we do not currently have this level of data from our private healthcare partners, but we are working with them to get it. overall in san francisco we do know that as of yesterday 28,501 san franciscans have received at least one dose, 6,347 having received their second dose. this is across all of our providers and largely healthcare workers who live in san francisco. to give you the overall picture of where we are with tier 1a, it's important to note that our entire system in san francisco has received 102,000, about 102,000 doses. again, these are for both first and second doses to everyone,

including department of public health, kaiser, sutter, dignity, ucsf and others. tier 1a in san francisco is comprised of more than 210,000 people, all of whom need to receive two doses, including approximately 80 to 90,000 healthcare workers, 11,000 inhome care workers, 110,000 people over the age of 65, as well as e.m.t.s, community healthcare workers, and others who qualify in tier 1a. this really shows that while we are making progress we simply need more vaccines. as i said, we are going to be out of our vaccines this week if we don't get more. now i can't do this presentation every day, but people do want answers every day. so to better track vaccine distribution we launched a new vaccine dashboard which you can

find on the city's covid dashboard, where you normally find our case rates and hospitalization ance other key data. this dashboard will tell you how many people have been vaccinated in san francisco first and second dose and how many doses are given to people daily. this is the first version of this dashboard when we have more data we will add that to the dashboard. we are working with other healthcare providers in the state to get this data and today the department of public health is issuing a health order to help us get this data from those providers. this health order will provide basic distribution data so we can better fill out the dashboard and understand what's happening in san francisco. i really view this health order as part of our collaboration with our private providers to set up our vaccine sites and to get people vaccinated quickly.

i know we are all anxious and want to know how we are doing but remember the vaccine is in limited supply. every single dose in our possession is accounted for and earmarked for an individual. also moving forward with setting up our vaccination network, including the build-out of the first site at city college. we still don't have the vaccine supply to meet the needs of these sites yet, we are getting ready for when we do. our goal is to be ready to quickly move to tier 1b once we have the supply. to make sure you are aware when it's your turn, you will be able to go to sf.gov/vaccine notify. our city technology staff has been working all weekend to prepare this site for what they know will be a significant volume of interest and it will be up later today. when it's live, you can enter some basic information,

including your name, occupation, your provider, so you can be notified when it's your turn. i understand that this has been tough for people. there's a lot of information out there. we are doing our best here locally, the good news is that starting tomorrow we are gonna have more support from the federal government. even before tomorrow's inauguration, the biden administration has already made clear what their plans are for expanding the fight against covid. these include things like activating fema and the national guard to support large vaccination sites. potentially using the defense production act to expand the supply of syringes and other critical materials, provide direct support to individuals and small businesses who are suffering from this pandemic. frankly, these are the basic things we should have been doing all along. but i'm excited to see them finally being put into action.

this is what leadership looks like, and the hope i feel for our city is, and our country is real. that hope is not based just in vaccine rollout but in how they are planning to immediately rejoin the paris climate change and reverse the discriminatory travel ban. and their talk about how they are going to overhaul our immigration laws and then there's just the basic message of our core values as a country. those valuing our core democratic principles, celebrating unity and restoring common decency. it's been a long, long four years, but we are finally, finally moving forward. and on top of that, tomorrow will be an historic day for our country because tomorrow we will see for the first time a woman, a black woman, a southeast asian woman, taking the oath of office

to serve as our vice president. i am so excited, not just because kamala harris got her start in the political world right here in the bay area, i'm excited because she has been a mentor, a friend, and a supporter of so many people throughout her entire career. she has been compassionate, she has cared about people and their individual struggles and challenges, and i know she's going to bring that same passion and love for changing the country to her new role as vice president and i can't wait. now having said all that, i know i'm not the only one who is excited and ready to celebrate. but as always, i'm here to remind everyone. we are still in a pandemic. the celebration we all want to have, the one that we normally

would have sadly cannot happen. we need people to stay home, watch the inauguration where they are and avoid gatherings. trust me, there's nothing more than i want to do than to go out and celebrate and hug everyone as we watch kamala harris sworn in as the vice president, and joe biden as the president. i'm getting excited just thinking about what this means. but we all need to keep doing our part. we need to get through these next weeks safely, keep slowing the spread. get vaccinated when it's your turn and wear your mask. so please, please for the sake of at least being able to reopen this city by the spring i am begging you all, no large gatherings. in addition, i know there are a lot of concerns about what we saw in washington, d.c. a few weeks ago. the violence and the indiscretion of our capitol were shocking and disgusting and i know people are nervous about

something like that happening right here in san francisco. well, let me be clear. we will be prepared for anything tomorrow. our focus is and always will be on keeping people safe. so before i bring on dr. colfax to provide the data where we are with our transmission rates, let me have police chief bill scott speak a little bit more about the city's plans for tomorrow. chief scott. >> thank you, mayor. as mayor breed said, tomorrow is going to be an exciting day with the inauguration of president-elect joe biden as the president of the united states and our own bay area senator kamala harris, first female african american as the mayor said, the first female asian will be the vice president of the united states of america. the nation has been on high alert following the january 6th

attacks on the u.s. capitol. however, update you on the city's preparedness for tomorrow's events. at this time we have no credible notifications of major protests of civil unrest likely taking place in the city and county of san francisco. however, we will be prepared for anything and everything. out of abundance of caution, san francisco police department is working closely and coordinating our efforts with our public safety partners at the local, state and federal level in order to preserve order and protect everyone's safety. at sfpd we have canceled discretionary days off of our officers and additional police and all necessary resources deployed to respond to all routine calls of service, as well as spontaneous events in the event they occur. we are closely coordinated with the san francisco fire department which is fully staffed and well prepared to meet fire and emergency and

medical needs that may occur city-wide, and we are also coordinating with the san francisco sheriff's department which has an increased presence to safeguard city hall and other city buildings as well as those who work there. our city emergency operations center, or eoc is fully activated to support city-wide coordination, awareness and resource management city-wide for inauguration day. as you've heard, me and many other law enforcement professionals say in the past if you see something, say something. please call us. as always, we remind san franciscans, help protect our city. report what you see, and remember, if you see something, say something. if you witness criminal or suspicious activity, call us. we will come, we will chat. we want everybody to be safe and we want everybody to feel safe.

911 call is an emergency center, 24 hours a day, you can call at any time. and if it's not an emergency, call our nonemergency line at 415-553-0123. 415-553-0123. and as a couple reminders, i want to reiterate what mayor breed said about covid. although we know there are no public safety threats at this time, civil unrest, protests planned in our city, we cannot forget the serious gravity that the covid-19 pandemic has caused in our country. covid won't be taking tomorrow off, so please listen to the mayor, stay at home, the events will be televised, and we are encouraging you not to gather in large gatherings in public. san francisco police department

we agree with mayor breed and the doctor to celebrate at home, watch it on tv again, and celebrate those in your household, celebrate with those in your household. you can go online and you can celebrate virtually. please remember that outdoor gatherings of individuals from different households pose a significantly higher risk of virus transmission, and the virus is still a threat. so please take heed to those basic public health advice. that's why our public health order prohibits public and private gatherings that occur outside of a single household. in conclusion, more than anything else, inauguration day is meant to celebrate a peaceful transition of power. so let's remember that the most patriotic thing we can do for our country is stay peaceful.

let's also remember the most important thing we can do is keep each other safe, prevent the spread of covid, stay at home, wear your mask, wash your hands, and abide and listen to the public health orders. thank you all, and please be safe. and if you see something, say something. call us. thank you, mayor. >> dr. colfax. >> yes, good morning, everyone. thank you, mayor, for your continued leadership and chief scott, thank you for everything you and your team are doing to keep our city safe. it's been nearly a year since we first began talking about this unfolding and unprecedented health crisis that we knew was coming our way.

and let's be proud of what we have accomplished together. one of the first cities in the nation to shelter-in-place due to covid-19, we understood what we were asking of all of us. hardship and sacrifice. we asked san franciscans to trust us and to follow the data, science and facts, and because we all did this together, we protected our hospital system and together we saved lives. so far while this third surge has been the worst the bay area has experienced, we have avoided the worst of the pandemic. indeed, today the numbers in the united states are hard to comprehend. and who would have thought a year ago that we would have nearly 400,000 people in this country dead of this virus.

that is sad, sobering, and it is tragic. and we understand what this sacrifice has meant to the city. be assured every action we take is with the goal of reopening as safely and as soon as possible. and now with the vaccine starting to arrive, it is hopeful for all of us finally. but even as we discussed vaccine rollout, we must remain vigilant. unfortunately as the mayor has said, there is not enough vaccine yet that we can administer it to keep us safe from these immediate surges, including the one we have been experiencing since november. believe me, i hope as much as to have each of you, that more vaccine comes as quickly as possible so we can get it into arms. first let me brief you on the

numbers. as this slide shows, new covid-19 cases remain higher than during our post thanksgiving surge. we are now averaging 333 cases per day. this is very high. for example, and we see that our current case rate is at 38.3 per 100,000 people, down slightly from the peak of 42.5 on january 10th. this trend is promising, but it is too early to know for sure, so we can simply not let our guard down. our current number per 100,000 is far higher than our summer surge when we peaked at just 15.4. but, we are still doing better than california as a whole where

the average is 100.9 per 100,000 people infected. now as this slide illustrates, our data shows some relatively promising news on the hospitalization front as well. post holiday rise in hospitalization appears to be slowing. as of saturday, we had 244 covid-19 patients in san francisco hospitals, and we currently have 24% remaining i.c.u. capacity. in fact, our weekly change in hospitalization rate is down just barely by 1%. that rate of change, that rate of change is important because it reflects the demand put on our hospitals for acute care and i.c.u. beds to care for covid-19 and other patients. so again, this is promising and

hopeful news. as i think about the work that has gotten us to this point, i think of some of the challenges that we have overcome as a city this year. and now with a rollout of historic vaccine program, we see challenges across the country again in everything from production to distribution. our vaccine program, like so much else we have undertaken, will be a partnership among the city, healthcare providers, pharmacies, and the communities we serve. let me stress. these vaccines are remarkably effective. they are our ticket out of this pandemic, and they are very safe. in partnership with our comprehensive healthcare systems, we are building a comprehensive vaccination network with a variety of options for all of those who live and work in san francisco.

the system is focussed on equity, speed, and access. that will be available from whatever healthcare system you currently get services and whatever location is comfortable and convenient. a large drive-thru site, or a small community clinic, or a local pharmacy where doctor's office, or a vaccination site at a transit hub. we will continue to vaccinate the more than 210,000 people in san francisco in phase 1a and those 65 years and older. san francisco has more than 110,000 people age 65 and over. individuals 65 and over make up 15% of our covid-19 infections, yet they make up 85%, 85% of the

people in our city who have died from covid-19. and, we will be ready when more vaccine is available. and we will be ready when we move to the next group of priority populations based on state guidance, which prioritizes people by risk of exposure and risk of spreading the virus. indeed, we will be ready to vaccinate 10,000 people a day. but right now our challenge is the lack of vaccine. all vaccines, all the vaccines allocated to the san francisco department of public health have either been administered or are earmarked for those who have been scheduled to receive a first dose and those who need a second dose. given the current state, the d.p.h. vaccine supply will be exhausted by thursday. the day after tomorrow.

this week, along with healthcare providers across the city, we received a fraction of the doses we requested from the state. d.p.h. allocation from the state arriving this week is only 1,775 doses. moreover, d.p.h. paused on using 8,000 doses of moderna vaccine out of abundance of caution and guidance from the state due to possible increased side effects from this specific lot of moderna vaccine. as of today, we have not received any replacement doses. this will have an impact on the city's ability to complete already scheduled vaccinations. the inconsistent, the inconsistent and unpredictable vaccine from the state and

directly at the feet of the feds is not only impacting d.p.h., but our city healthcare providers as well. i know many of you have had frustrating experiences trying to get appointments. unfortunately, we must kin to have patience as supply ramps up and distribution rapidly improves. there will be challenges as a nation, as the nation begins the unprecedented rollout of mass vaccines. and as production ramps up by manufacturers, we anticipate large deliveries over the coming weeks and months. and we, along with our healthcare partners, will be ready to get these large deliveries out the door and into arms. with our high volume sites, our community clinics, our pharmacy

partnerships, and our community and local pop-up sites, when supply is available, operations to administer the vaccine will be ready. when the vaccine -- with the vaccine here, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it is just as important that we stay vigilant as a city. i cannot stress it enough. the most important thing you can do now to slow the spread of the virus is to take the precautions that it becomes second nature to so many of us. please wear that mask over both your mouth and your nose whenever you go outside, wash your hands frequently, stay at home as much as possible, do not gather with members outside of your household, and certainly do not go out if you are sick. we are in this together, and together we will get through

this. we will bring back our communities, our economy, and our city the same way we continue to fight covid-19 by working together. thank you. >> thank you, mayor breed, chief scott and dr. colfax for your remarks. before we start the question and answer portion, take a moment to allow reporters to submit any >> thank you for your patience. when you are ready, mayor breed, we'll begin. your first question comes from joyce cutlet, bloomberg news. businesses earlier in the

pandemic asked the city to tap into the health security funds. how much has the city collected from employers and how much has been spent for health reimbursements since last march? >> well, we'll get you that information, but as you know, these funds are very limited. what we have tried to do is get creative as to how we can spend them in a way that the supports the population it intended to support. it's been definitely very challenging but we have been able to issue $500 checks to individuals who qualify, who fit in the categories. and we want to provide additional resource for those who would not necessarily feel comfortable getting tested or even taking time off work because they were not able to collect unemployment or healthcare or anything else for that nature. these are the kinds of funds that should be used for this purpose and so we have been able to do just that, but as you know, they are very -- the ability to use the money in the

first place is very limited and these funds are restricted. and so we have had to get really creative to make sure they get in the hands of the people it's intended to serve. >> thank you, mayor breed. next question comes from lily pan, nbc bay area. you mentioned sf would run out of vaccine by thursday. how does this impact the opening of the mass vaccination site at city college? will it still open at the end of this week? >> well, to be clear, when i say run out by thursday, we are specifically talking about what the city has control of over through the department of public health. and we are definitely planning to continue to move forward to open the city college site because we are working with other healthcare providers like dignity, like kaiser, like bpmc because we know they are still administering the vaccine. so it's should not have a significant impact but we are

prepared so that when we receive the doses we don't want to wait around, we want to get them into the arms of individuals who we know need them as quickly as possible. >> thank you, mr. breed. now questions for dr. colfax. dr. colfax, your first question comes from various news outlets. are you concerned the new variant, l254r found in the bay area or other variants from the u.k., brazil and south africa, will reverse the progress we are seeing in fighting the pandemic? and, is there a possibility that current treatments and vaccinations will be less effective against these new variants? >> so it's important to stress we see variants in these types of viruses.

this is the natural evolution of the virus to some degree. while some of the variants are more concerning than others we need to get more information with regard to their characteristics, certainly, with the u.k., we know it's more infectious, additional variant recently described in the bay area. also appears there is a likelihood it's more infectious. i think the bottom line is we are still gathering more information. there's no reason to panic. we know the activities that we continue to engage in with social distancing, the masking, and avoiding gatherings outside of your own household, those are effective prevention activities. we have no information at this point about these variants that they -- that those activities would not be able to prevent transmission of the virus, and

certainly people, scientists are looking at the characteristics of the variants with regard to the vaccines but don't have additional information for most of these variants with regard to that, especially with pfizer determines would not be resistant to the vaccine. so, this is going to be part of this pandemic as we see variants emerge, we are just going to have to learn more about them but also ensure that we take the prevention activities that we know will spread the virus. >> similar to the first set of questions, when will lab studies of the new coronavirus variant l452r be complete to help answer questions of increased transmissibility and the efficacy of currently authorized vaccines? >> sequencing is an ongoing

process, and they do across the united states, including at ucsf, it's an ongoing process. the infrastructure is small compared to other countries, for the sequencing, but an ongoing process done on a routine process, a routine basis. it's never actually complete. constant assessment of viral genotypes that go on. these specific types are emerging as a more frequent contributor to the viral population in the bay area, so why is that is the case is still under investigation. >> thank you, dr. colfax. the next question comes from various news outlets. has the city had to withhold any vaccine doses from the

questionable moderna vaccine lot and if so, how many? how much has that affected the city's vaccine rollout? >> so we have received from that specific lot, received 8,000 doses and those are now, we paused on those out of abundance of caution per the recommendation of the state. and as of today, we have not received any replacement doses so we'll have an impact on the city's ability to complete scheduled appointments this week. yes. >> thank you. your next question again from various news outlets, is the city receiving a lower allocation of vaccine doses than expected? the mayor mentioned the city will run out of doses this week. can you explain? >> well, i think it's just

really unfortunate lack of reliable supply. i will give you an example. last week we got 12,000 vaccines, we were expecting 12,000 this week and this week we are only getting 1775. so that's just an example of why it's so complicated right now, and this unreliable source makes it very hard to plan. and it is one of the key reasons that we are scheduled to run out of vaccine the day after tomorrow, thursday. within d.p.h. >> thank you, doctor. the next question comes from matt green, kqed. based on your data, fewer than 30% of doses received by the city have been administered. how do you account for this lag on the local level? >> so much of the vaccine received is being delivered by other healthcare systems across

the city and those healthcare systems i know are working to get the vaccine out as quickly as possible. but we don't have any direct control in terms of their ability to do that. here in the health department we have either administered the vaccine or all the vaccine has been allocated, so again, we are due to run out of vaccine this thursday. >> thank you. the next question comes from heather knight of the san francisco chronicle. when do you anticipate vaccine doses arriving in bigger numbers? when will all san franciscans who want vaccinations be able to get them in your estimation? >> i wish i had an answer for you on that one. what we are doing, as you know, is filling up a multi-pronged approach, including the mass

sites, including the continued expansion of the clinical sites, pharmacy partnerships and the pop-ups. so san francisco will be ready when that comes. i hope tomorrow's change in federal leadership that day is closer than it otherwise would be. but we are ready when that happens. >> thank you, doctor colfax. your final question comes from various news outlets. do you anticipate the stay-at-home order lifting for the bay area in the near future? what do you think the four-week projection for the city is? >> well, i think as i showed you, we have some hopeful signs with regard to case rates starting to drop, hospitalizations starting to level off. and we are looking at those data very, very carefully. so, i'm hopeful that we will have -- if that trend continues, i expect that we would

potentially move out of the stay-at-home order obviously sooner than if the cases continue to skyrocket. i don't have a specific date to share with you. but right now i would say for the trend is currently in a positive direction. but again, we will only get there if people continue to maintain the safety, the prevention precautions we know work to slow the spread of the disease. this is no time to let down our guard and the sooner we continue with the prevention activities the faster those numbers will go down and the sooner the stay-at-home order will be lifted. >> thank you, dr. colfax. >> thank you. >> there are no additional questions, and this concludes today's press conference. thank you, mayor breed, chief scott and dr. colfax for your time. for future questions, please email dempress at sfgov.org.

thank you, and have a nice day.

modifying requirements for in person meetings. during the coronavirus this commit me will convene remotely until authorized to meet in person. public comment is available on each item. each speaker is allowed three minutes. communities or opportunities to speak will be available by calling 415-655-0001. access code (146)379-7854. then pound and pound. when connected you will hear the discussions but you will be muted. when your item comes up dial