>> we hope we can learn more about the current state of covid-19 variant cases and others. let's get through the housekeeping and get started. recording. today's event is being recorded and being live streamed on facebook on facebook, sfgovtv, comcast 26, and cable 26. we respect all in this meeting, and want to create a safe space for all. all video will be disabled. video will be on for speaker only.

the asl interpreter will be on for the duration of this event. to view the asl interpreter during the slide presentation, please click on view button at the upper right hand portion of your screen and click on slide view. you can also switch from one slide to the other. once the slide comes on, switch to speaker view media. we are prioritizing questions from members of the public during q&a. media are welcome to follow up with additional questions they

have -- thank you very much for joining us. now i would like to hand it over to d.p.h. director of public affairs katy tang. >> thank you very muc and thank you for attending this webinar. as covid-19 is circulating out there, we know there's questions from many of you. so with that said, i'm going to invite dr. colfax to begin his presentation for all of you, but we will reserve a bulk of the time for q&a. so with that, dr. colfax. >> i thank you, katy, and good afternoon, everybody. it's really good to be here and prioritize where we are with regard to covid-19 in our city. thank you, everybody, for joining. looking forward to questions and some discussion. we have some slides that i'll

be presenting to let you know where things stand, and i know that this pandemic is creating greater challenges within our community. next slide, please. so as of today, we have over 41,000 cases of covid-19 diagnosed in our city, and we have 565 deaths. we are now in a fourth surge, and you can see that we now have an average of about 235 cases a day, and unfortunately, we are seeing another surge in hospitalizations as of august 1 with 97 people in the hospital. san francisco has done a great job of vaccinating people, and again, thank you for your collective efforts in supporting vaccination. it is our ticket out of the pandemic.

70% of everyone in san francisco has been vaccinated, and that includes, in that calculation, people who are under 12 who, as you know, are not eligible for vaccine yet. total number of vaccines yet, you can see 667,000. 84% of people 12 and older, people who have received at least one dose, and 78% of people 12 and over have completed their vaccine period. so this is remarkable. this is one of the highest, if not the highest jurisdiction of any urban jurisdiction in the united states, and because of this work, and because of what people have done in terms of getting vaccinated, while this fourth surge will present challenges, we are in a much better place, and we will have

many fewer deaths as a result of this vaccine coverage. next slide. so on the next slide is the seven-day rolling average of cases, which is 235. in our winter surge, we peaked at 378. you can see the curve is step and almost vertical. this is because the delta variant is raging through our city, especially among those who remain unvaccinated. we are seeing increases across the world. you see here from the new york times the increase in cases across the globe, and as i already mentioned, going back to the local situation, we have nearly 100 people in the

hospital and are tracking those hospitalizations very closely. next slide. in terms of our case rate, so this is our case rates. this rapid increase, really attributable to the delta virus -- delta variant, excuse me, and the fact that we have reopened much of the city, so therefore, there's more activity. so the combination of these factors are what's driving this increase. next slide. so if there's any change in the current rate of vaccine uptake, and there's no change in san francisco's current contact

rate, which is how much we're interacting with the public and each other, then we project the following, and these are just projections. the current surge would end with 257 additional covid deaths in san francisco. and with that last bullet, just to emphasize, the vast majority would be among people who are not fully vaccinated, and with vaccines, 90 to 95% of these deaths are preventible. next slide. as we've seen throughout the pandemic, covid-19 is having a

disproportionate impact on different neighborhoods in the city. in this case, higher rates in the southeastern part of the city. the more the blue shade on this map, the higher the concentration in the city. so you see mission, tenderloin in particular have high rates. so this is, again, something that we've seen throughout the pandemic, which is why during the pandemic, working with community partners, we at d.p.h. have focused our efforts at testing, vaccine efforts, prevention services in neighborhoods most affected. next slide. so there's been a lot of talk about the delta variants, variants in general during the

pandemic. i've used the term several times already during this presentation, so just to be explicit, what is a variant? so viruses constantly change, and this is a normal process of the virus. a variant is a virus that contains changes different from the parent. some viruses have an advantage over the parent and persist or become more common, so this is basic virology, where a virus adapts. through active genomic surveillance, scientists can

identify variants that are concerning, requiring further study, and precautions. public health becomes concerned about a variant when it affects covid-19 transmission, severity, treatment, or effectiveness. we're now focusing on the delta variant, which we believe accounts for 95% of cases in san francisco, is far more transmissible than the original variant, and the clinical research scientists are determining other factors. so the main way to fight the virus is to reduce

transmission, so the virus cannot mutate if it's not reproducing, so this is another reason that vaccination is so key. the faster locally, nationally, and globally we get more people vaccinated, the less likely the virus will be able to infect more hosts, and the more likely it will be that we will be able to slow the spread of the virus. and again, as i've already said, the vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths due to covid-19 are among the unvaccinated here and across the country. so vaccines are highly effective. they are incredibly effective,

but breakthrough cases are possible. but the vaccines are working. they are effective in preventing transmission of covid-19 to totally vaccinated people, and even better, they are effective at reducing hospitalization and death due to covid-19. and, really, you know, i've said this before, it could be the difference -- if you get

covid-19 and you're not vaccinated, if you're fully vaccinated versus not vaccinated -- so if you're fully vaccinated versus not vaccinated, it could be the difference between getting a case of the sniffles versus suffocation and having to go into the hospital with covid-19. i say it's the difference between spending a few days in your bed at home and weeks in the i.c.u. at a hospital. this is not to be taken lightly. these vaccines are life saving and can keep you out of the hospital, and, of course, prevent death.

here, an over eight-fold difference, eight times more likely to be hospitalized if you are not fully vaccinated for covid-19. look at this difference between these two bars. incredible difference showing the effectiveness of these vaccines at the local level. next slide. so i also wanted to touch base on the indoor masking order that our san francisco public

[inaudible] issued on august 3, requiring masks indoors regardless of vaccination status. this is an effort that aligns with c.d.c. guidance to reduce transmission of covid-19 and everyone due to the widespread covid-19 delta variant. so, you know, this delta variant is really covid is steroids, which is why vaccinations are so important, but also protecting ourselves and each other, reducing the rate of transmission by requiring us all to wear a mask in public places will protect everyone, particularly the unvaccinated or those who have not received a vaccine and can

help them get protected by availing themselves to a shot. there's lots of resources here. we are really focusing the health department on the most vulnerable communities to covid-19, reaching out to ensure that people have the right information, the correct information and particularly about the vaccines. know there's a lot of myths out there and misperceptions. we are out there making vaccine available as much as possible. in addition there's information where people can get tested, and for people who want to delve deep into the data, you can see the links to our data and reports. and finally, just to emphasize for further information about covid, the state web side and the c.d.c. -- website and the c.d.c. websites are here to view at your leisure. and i believe that's the end of presentation, and we'll have some question-and-answer now.

katy, i'll turn it back to you. >> thank you, dr. colfax, and if you do have questions, please continue to send them through the chat. we also wanted to welcome two of our incredible community liaisons who have been deployed as what we call disaster service workers throughout the response. these are individuals who have worked in different city departments, and we have called on them to assist with all that's required during this pandemic and want to thank and acknowledge everyone who has been part of that. so today, we have [inaudible] bryant, who normally works at sfmta. has been doing a lot of outreach in the community, and jessica medina, who is also assigned at department of emergency management and has been doing a lot of work. i'll start with [inaudible].

they have been hearing many questions in the community as they've been doing outreach, so we asked them to relay some of those questions with us today, so we'll start with alfini. >> hello. good afternoon, everyone. the first question that's come in from the community is why is the delta variant so deadly, and why is it so contagious compared to the original strain? >> so can you hear me now? so thank you for the question, and it's a really important one to answer as quickly as possible. we know that the variant is much more contagious than the virus we were dealing with before. as we said, it's covid on steroids, and basically, the virus has mutated so it allows

the virus to bind better to our cells in our body. so basically, it has created a way to bind even more tightly to our cells and do it more quickly to infect us. so that's the key reason why delta is so concerning right now. the -- in terms of its causing more severe disease, there's increasing evidence that it's not only more infectious, but if you get it, you are more likely to have severe illness. that is not concluesive yet, but in talking to our ucsf clinicians and doctors there, there are emerging -- there is emerging evidence that that is the case, and unfortunately, that trend is what we're seeing locally. so it's a series of mutations that allows the virus to enter our bodies more quickly and

easily than the prior virus, and then a series of mutations that are causing the virus to create more -- potentially more serious disease. >> okay. thank you for that. jessica? >> thank you, dr. colfax. another question i have is regarding testing. we're starting to see a lot more people getting tested for covid-19. is the city going to ramp up testing again, especially that the mass testing sites have been closed? >> yes. so we ramped up testing dramatically in both at our al -- alemany sites and

[inaudible] and at this point, that increase in demand has not decreased in supply. we are working with our partners and across our health care system partners, kaiser, ucsf, sutter, and so forth, to expand testing. people who have health care providers are experiencing some delays both in getting some appointments and some delays in getting test results back, so we're working to mitigate that as much as possible. we're also working to access home test kits, which we haven't had in prior times, to help people get rapidly tested. but we acknowledge that testing demand is increasing and,

again, are working hard to expand testing options, testing hours for people so that people can get tested when they need to. >> okay. great. next, we'll go back to fini. >> okay. thanks for that. why do some people who are vaccinated experience symptoms and are being hospitalized despite the small numbers? >> yeah, so i think it's important to look at the broader numbers in san francisco. there are going to be some breakthrough infections, and especially with delta, there are going to be some breakthrough infections. when we talk about breakthrough infections, there are people who, where virus is detected, they don't have any symptoms, but their test would be positive. and then, there are some who have mild to moderate symptoms. but we've all heard of people who got -- did what they were

asked to do, stepped up, got full vaccine doses, and they got pretty sick due to covid-19. and, you know, this is the fact that if they hadn't gotten the vaccine, it's highly likely that they'd be more sick, right? possibly in the i.c.u. and possibly to the extent that they could have died, so i think we just need to look at the numbers and look at the -- the rate of infection and severe infections, and as we keep emphasizing, if people are fully vaccinated, the likelihood of their getting severe illness, the likelihood of getting hospitalized is reduced dramatically, reduced dramatically. i know people who have gotten pretty sick who have gotten fully vaccinated, but we just need to look at the facts, and right now, the facts are because so many people in san

francisco are fully vaccinated, many, many fewer people are also going to get sick. and the fact is, with delta here, it's important, if you're not fully vaccinated, to get fully vaccinated. and if you get covid-19, it is incredibly likely that it will keep you out of the hospital. >> thank you. next question? >> my next question is what is the general guidance with regard to testing currently? what about isolation and quarantine resources if people test positive? >> yeah, so, you know, in terms of getting tested, if you're -- for the -- there are a lot of different circumstances, so i won't go into those details, except to say certainly, if you have symptoms that are consistent with covid-19, you should get tested whether or not you have been fully vaccinated, so really

important, and if you are symptomatic, it's important to wear a mask indoors, even if private settings, until you get that tests. in terms of quarantine, people should quarantine until they get the result of that test as much as possible and isolate for -- for the vast majority of people, isolate if they've had a positive test for at least ten days until they don't have any symptoms. we can continue to provide isolation and quarantine support for people. in some cases, this would mean support -- it's a place where the person is living, providing support for families,

resources, or providing a spot where they could go isolate or quarantine as necessary. and at the same time, we do not have the level of isolation and quarantine hotels that we had for these last three surges, so we're continuing to work with community members and others to ensure that we're prioritizing the isolation and quarantine resources that we do have for the people who are most vulnerable, for the people who don't have another way of managing isolation and quarantine, and again, focusing on providing support for people in other ways so that they can isolate and quarantine as much as possible. >> all right. next question, fini? >> how [inaudible] is the covid-19 vaccine in the long haul? people are scared of the variant, but some people are more scared of the vaccine and the long-term effects, as well?

>> yeah, i've heard that concern, and i talk to people about it. so the covid vaccines were developed and approved quickly, which is actually a great thing because they're our way out of this pandemic. but i also think that while the vaccines were developed quickly, it's important to remember scientists have been studying these covid viruses for over 50 years, half a century. so the science that really drove how it developed has been in existence for many, many years, and this was done quickly because there was an unprecedented support in investment in this scientific research. so right now in the world, the vaccine has been distributed to millions and millions of people, and they are safe and

highly effective. you know, we obviously don't know, ten years out from now, what the effects will be, but all of the indications are that these vaccines are safe, and the long-term risks of covid-19 far outweigh the theoretical risk of any side effects of these vaccines, so just to emphasize that. now, there's also this concern about if i -- when i get a shot, especially if i get a second shot, i get symptoms, i feel fatigued, i feel sore. with the second shot, my arm really hurt for the day. the second day, i had symptoms. you feel achy or like you have

a bad case of a cold. it's not a pleasant situation, but believe me, the symptoms of covid-19 are far worse than from these vaccines. so they're just -- there are also a lot of i think myths out there that are on social immediatea and so forth, you know, the vaccines affecting your re -- media and so forth, you know, the vaccines affecting your reproductive system and so forth. that is not the case. all the experts who specialize in reproductive health are recommending that people get these vaccines. in fact, there was just a study out yesterday that shows for -- unfortunately, for pregnant women who didn't get the vaccine, they were more likely to have their babies early, and the babies were what we call

preterm babies, so that was a very negative effect of covid-19. the benefits of these vaccines far outweigh the bad sides, but we all know someone who got the shot and got sicker than they thought, or my brother got the shot and had an asthma attack a week or two weeks later, and it was, like, did that cause my asthma? no. >> thank you for that. and the last question from jessica? >> the last question is [inaudible] should they then test again. >> so, again, this is this is a

situation where they're fully vaccinated and tested positive, basically, you need to isolate for the ten days until -- until you don't have symptoms, assuming you don't have any symptoms after ten days, and there's no further recommendation to get retested again, and if you do get symptoms similar to covid-19 after that again, the best thing to do is to talk directly to your health care provider. but in general, there's no reason to get tested after the ten days after -- from the day of your positive test. so the most important thing is if you do test positive, to isolate, to wear the mask, and for goodness sake, if you have friends and family that haven't been vaccinated yet, get them

vaccinated -- support them getting vaccinated, i should say. >> all right. thank you so much to jessica and fini for all of your work in the community, as you've heard many similar questions that they all have that they've been fielding in the community, so thank you, fini and jessica. so now, i'm going to get to some of the questions that you've put in the chat. i don't think i'm going to be able to get to one of them, but i'm going to try to combine similar subjects. one thing that has been asked is will the city shutdown again, and will the city take any further efforts to reduce transmission, such as closing restaurants, bars, gyms, or any other place with high risk settings, and do we anticipate going back to the tiered shutdown? so all of these questions have

to do with a shutdown? >> so we have no plans to quote, unquote, shutdown the city again. i think we are going to mitigate the virus in ways that allow us to resume the activities that we missed so much and love while also trying to slow the spread of the virus and prevent the most serious consequences, hospitalizations and, of course, death. so vaccines are key to this. as i said multiple times here today already, they are key along with people wearing masks indoors. they are not as effective as vaccines, but they are another tool that works to slow the spread of the virus. the other thing that we're doing is mandating vaccines in certain settings, including in health care settings, and i think as people know, the city

as a whole, the city is requiring employees across departments to become vaccinated, so there is effort to make the vaccine as available as possible. we will bring the vaccine to you. in your house, if you have five or more people ready to get vaccinated, we can make that happen. and the other thing is now that we've made it as easy for people to get vaccinated, we support efforts for people not getting vaccinated. we support requirements for

vaccine. a lot of businesses are requiring to show proof of vaccine status. >> we're seeing a lot of questions in the chat about boosters and booster shots, so i'm just going to combine some of the questions here. what are the cost-benefit analysis to get a booster shot if they're ready to get vaccinated? how effective is the pfizer and moderna vaccine against the variant, and what's the criteria if someone wants to

get a supplemental shot? they've read the news about sfdph affiliated facilities accommodating those requests, and do you recommend someone getting a shot from two different companies, so if you got a moderna, getting a shot from pfizer or johnson & johnson. so many questions, similar topics. what are your thoughts about booster shots? >> i'm trying to hold all those topics. so a couple of things. starting with one of the questions that was in the middle there was, you know,

about the second shot, whether it's from pfizer or moderna. it's just really, really important to get that second shot. there is no recommendation from any major health care body in the united states, including the c.d.c. and the f.d.a., that people get boosters. i know there's a lot of questions, a lot of discussions about this. right now, we only need to focus on the support of people who haven't gotten vaccines to get the shot. that one shot is j&j or two shots of the moderna or pfizer vaccine. those are the current guidelines, and the health department has not changed its policy with regard to that. now there's a lot of data -- there's actually some data just out today of moderna. there's a lot of discussion

around pfizer with booster shots, which would be additional shots based on evidence that people may need them. there are some countries that are exploring or planning to start booster shots in certain populations. that is not happening in the united states right now. we don't know yet. it's entirely possible that booster shots would be recommended, but again, in the united states, that's not the case. now there has been some publicity about a comment that the health department made, which is giving -- if people who receive the johnson & johnson vaccine, which is a good vaccine, request an additional shot with a pfizer or moderna vaccine, that we will accommodate that, but it hasn't been a change in our policy. but if people have talked to

their health care provider and say, you know, i'd really like to have an mrna shot in addition to the johnson & johnson shot that i got, we will accommodate that, but we are accommodating that because we heard from communities that people were concerned that they were requesting it. we wanted to be responsive, and we wanted to accommodate what people were asking for in the -- in that regard. but it's not a change in policy, we're not recommending it, and we're not promoting it as a way for people to become more protected. >> okay. i know that's super helpful, just given all the questions rolling around that and the news coverage. question, especially with delta and other variants. you recommend upgraded respiratory protection. for example, n-95 masks for

unvaccinated individuals in indoor settings, so again, this is unvaccinated individuals in indoor settings. >> yeah, what i recommended for all individuals in indoor setting is to get vaccinated. we know the masks work, but they don't work as well as the vaccines. in an indoor setting, i mean, the more we know about them, really, it's both about getting that vaccine with delta here and, you know, if many people can't tolerate wearing an n-95 mask inside, so it's better to wear a surgical mask than certainly no mask at all. but i just -- i know that with the masking, the indoor masking mandate coming back in, that

that -- that we focus our attention on masks, but i also don't want to lose sight of the fact that the vaccines are so much -- so important, so protective, and easy to get right now, so both the mask and vaccine are key to us getting out of this fourth surge. >> okay. great. we have some questions about the new variant, the lambda variant. what do you know about the lambda variant in san francisco, and there's some questions that the lambda and epsilon variants might be vaccine resistant? >> yeah, we're working with scientists and researchers as

much as we can to be responsive to further variants emerging. and i think one of the key issues that we've had across the country, in the region, and, as well, is in -- in san francisco is scaling up our ability to genotype the virus. and thankfully, at ucsf, we have a lab that's leading the state in terms of genotyping. it's plausible that we'll see other variants emerge because we don't have high vaccine rates across the country, and we'll have to wait and see if these variants cause more illness or if they spread or are more crippling than delta.

but i go back to -- i sound like a broken record -- the way to keep these variants from spreading is to get vaccinated so the variants slow down. the less people the virus is able to infect, the more the virus slows down, and the less people we infect. the way to support all of this is to support all people getting vaccinated. >> all right. and we've gotten questions about have we seen any differences in outcomes, for example, hospitalizations, for people who have received different brands of vaccine? >> yeah. locally, i'm not aware of any

differences in regard to that. >> okay. and i know we've had a series of town halls focused on youth and children in schools, but we do have a couple questions here in terms of the delta variant specifically and its impact and everything on specifically three to five year olds. is it specifically safe to allow three to five-year-old children to not wear a mask in child care outdoors? what about the delta variant in pediatric outcomes? any sort of thought on the risk of kids under 12, so questions

on covid and how the delta variant is affecting children? >> so this has come up in questions from our clinical experts, and i think it's really important to emphasize right now that the public health officers, pediatricians, feel that it's incredibly important that we return our kids to in-person learning, and that this is thought that we can do it safely, we can do it safely, and it's so important for the health and wellness of our kids, our families, and our community. the best way that we can ensure that is for family members who are eligible for vaccines to get vaccinated. that can protect the children, and that can protect the school. and we have local data that supports that, so in the last 18 months, of the children who are found to test positive for covid-19 in the schools, all

those cases were tracked back to the family, so i just think it's important for us to all do our part to support that. i was just talking to a number of infectious disease experts at ucsf. you may have read the report from louisiana about children's hospitals being filled with children with respiratory illness. that's obviously a concern, and there's much more covid there, much more than we have locally. there's a much lower vaccination rate, somewhere in the range of 35%, compared to our 75% overall, and there's no confirmation that delta causes

more disease among children. right now, the consensus is that children are expect -- you know, even if children get covid-19, that they will experience milder symptoms compared to adults. but again, as we've seen during these last 18 months, this is an evolving field and we're watching it very carefully. but we want to support schools opening for in-person learning as much as possible. >> okay. thank you. we got a couple of questions about rapid testing and testing as soon as possible, so i don't know if you want to share anything about rapid tests? >> well, i think if people want to avail themselves of rapid testing, that's something we didn't have before, so i encourage them to use it. but i'd say to very carefully follow the instructions, and if

you have questions, that you consult your health care provider, so just two important caveats to the use of home test kits, and again, they should not be a substitute for getting vaccinated. getting tested itself doesn't get you vaccinated. you can test as much as you possibly can, and it's not protecting you from the virus, right? so, you know, if you're tested, get the vaccine. >> maybe just a follow-up question on that. if you can describe for the public quickly the difference between the rapid test and what we have traditionally had out there, where test results are sent to labs? >> yeah. well, i mean, i think there are a lot of different rapid tests out there, but basically, the rapid test allows you to get the results, you know, in as short a time as 15 minutes, and those are being used in many

settings across the city and at d.p.h. we're using them at our shelters right now and certainly at our testing sites so you get that result very quickly. if you -- the traditional -- the traditional test that we used earlier, our tests that take a longer time to conduct, and they can take a turnaround from anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. >> we had a lot of questions about the city shutting down again, but also specific events. we were planning for events to be held outdoors but with a lot of people. should we still hold them? should we cancel them? is there going to be a recommendation that people reduce participating in social gatherings indoors or suspend

large gatherings? any advice you have on small outdoor private gatherings, so in general, i think the questions are along the lines i think we've talked about safety in covid areas on the spectrum, if you could share that. >> yeah, it is on a spectrum. we know that being outdoors helps prevent the transmission of the virus, so that's key, as well, and the more people that you're engaging with, particularly inside, the greater the risk of transmission, especially if there are adults there who have not been fully vaccinated. the other piece is we know that people who are older,

particularly 65 and older, people who have comorbid conditions are more likely to suffer from negative consequences from this virus, so i think we just all need to think through that and do our own risk assessment to make a determination about what we're comfortable doing. there's a big difference between an indoor gathering of 5,000 people whose vaccine status hasn't been checked versus an outdoor gathering of 25 people who are fully vaccinated or, you know, people eating inside either in a group -- in a group setting, in a restaurant -- if they're vaccinated, and the staff are fully vaccinated, there's a big difference in that risk compared to people that are not vaccinated in that setting. so i think it's just really being attentive to your own

risk, the risk of the people that you love and who are around you, and making the determination about what you're comfortable doing while supporting getting vaccines and while wearing those masks indoors. >> and so along those lines, you know, especially given the high vaccination rate of our population, do you any insight of where you're seeing outbreaks in san francisco at least? i think you mentioned earlier, but any specific places or demographics or clusters? >> well yeah, i think we're seeing clusters in the neighborhood map -- on the neighborhood map that i showed. we're also seeing larger numbers the people in the 25 to 35-year-old age group who are not vaccinated. that's our age group in san francisco that is least likely to be vaccinated, so if any of you are 25 to 35 or no 25 to 35

year olds who aren't vaccinated yet, please support them in getting vaccinated as quickly as possible. along those lines, we are seeing, when we're asking people their activities, we're seeing more outbreaks in indoor settings, including people who are frequenting bars, so that's another place where we're seeing more people. it's basically younger people -- there's a higher risk for younger people, 25 to 35 year olds, who have not been vaccinated, who are going indoors into crowded settings where i think mask wearing is lower than it needs to be at this time. >> all right. well, i know we received many questions, and we apologize we

couldn't get to all of them, but we will try to through our messages out to the public and other venues, as well, try to get as many questions addressed in those ways. our website, of information, as well. i will leave it with one last question. many people are wondering how we can live with this virus in the long run like with the flu, so what are your thoughts on that? >> well, it's hard to project into the future, but we have the tools that work. there's a question, if you get

the vaccine, will it work against mutations? the vaccine is key to keeping us from spreading the virus and from keeping us out of more serious variants, so i just want to emphasize that. i think in terms of where we'll be in the future, hopefully, we'll get more people vaccinated. the masking, indoor masking, will help slow the spread of this surge, and then, we'll have to see where we are in terms of the science around further vaccines and determine, you know, if and when additional shots are necessary. but i think right now, the answer -- the most important thing that we know now is that these vaccines are going to be key and that the more people we get vaccinated now, the more we will be able to mitigate and --

and control the spread of this virus in our community and prevent people from dying. these are great medicines, and the vaccines are our way out. >> all right. thank you, dr. colfax. thank you to everyone who participated in this event today -- >> and if i could just say one more thing. you know, this has been a long 18 months, and i've said a lot about the virus. there's been a toll on our mental health, our ability to care for ourselves and our families, and in addition to getting the vaccine, please make sure that you're taking care of yourself and your families in the ways that are so important for yourself to be resilient during what is a very challenging time. sorry to cut in, katy, but i

wanted to say that, and thanks, everyone. >> oh, no, thank you to you, dr. colfax, and thank you to everyone who participated and thank you to sfgovtv, as well. if you want to view this again, it'll be available on sfgovtvs youtube channel. so thanks, everyone, and have a wonderful day. >> shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses, and challenges residents to do their shopping within the 49 square miles of san francisco. by supporting local services in our neighborhood, we help san francisco remain unique, successful, and vibrant.

so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> i am the owner of this restaurant. we have been here in north beach over 100 years. [speaking foreign language] [♪♪♪] [speaking foreign language] [♪♪♪] [speaking foreign language]

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yesterday was my birthday and i was out a little later than normal. it was nice to really celebrate a birthday for a change and i celebrated in ashia sf in san francisco where -- oh, my goodness, the performance was amazing. the food was great. the drinks were wonderful, the people were wonderful, but what i most enjoyed about being at asia sf is that they require everyone who comes through the door shows proof of vaccination. and so i felt a little bit safer when i was there last night and today's announcement is really about making sure that people feel a little bit safer in our city, but most importantly, what we're seeing now with this virus is very

challenging. and of great concern to me and i know many of you as well. but let's take it back just a little bit. the fact is that we should be proud of san franciscans. when i asked you all over a year ago to shelter in place and basically change your entire lives to support one another and ensure this virus didn't spread. you answered the call, you stepped up, you did your part. our health care workers showed up to the hospital to take care of those who unfortunately contracted the virus. but ultimately, we saw the best of the people of this city. and now, we need just a little bit more. and, again, going back to where we are.

we've seen in this city 78% of people in san francisco have been fully vaccinated. that's still more than any place else in the country. and i know the rest of you all are coming kicking and screening, but let me explain why this is so important. it's important because kids under the age of 12 cannot be vaccinated. so we have to make sure we're protecting them. it's important because there are still people who are elderly and sick and those with underlying health conditions that may not be eligible for the vaccine. we're doing this for them. so the reason why we're here today is because we're actually following the lead of small businesses and in particular, many bars in san francisco that decided on their own we're going to require proof of

vaccination before you enter our bar and the reason why we're here at vericio is because the owner, wherever she is, there you go. janet clyde, she took it the extra step. she took a lot of heat for it. she said i want to keep my customers and my employees safe, so i'm going to do this despite how challenging it was. how it impacted her business because she put the health and safety of the people of this city and her customers and her employees before anything else. that's what being a good san franciscan is all about and so we appreciate you letting us be here at this historic location to recognize that we really are in this together. and because this delta variant

has been so brutal i don't know about you, but when the virus first happened and over that time period. i knew less people at that time who actually got the virus. and there are a bunch of folks that i know how who have in some cases been vaccinated that have contracted covid because the delta variant is just that more contagious and we are not out of the woods as it relates to covid, we're still going through it. yes, we're sick and and tired of it, but it's not tired of us it's still coming back with a vengeance. we're seeing 263 new cases and those people are younger in some cases than what previously

existed and dr. cofax said if i'm going to get covid anyway. it's a difference being home every day or being in a hospital on a respirator where you can't breathe and this is real and it's hard to understand when you don't complooeld see it, but in some cases they can't talk where in this past year and a half, there have been people who died who have not been able to have funerals. when we think about those sorts of things, how can we not do our part to get better, to get vaccinated to make sure we're protecting one another. to make sure we're protecting

our children because they can't get vaccinated. so why are we here today? well, part of it is we're taking our steps around vaccinations just a little bit further and starting august 20th, you will need proof of vaccination in businesses for your customers in high contact areas like bars, restaurants, clubs, theaters, entertainment venues. indoor gyms and fitness and large indoor events with more than a 1,000 people. by october 13th, employees at these establishments must be vaccinated as well. all of the employees need to show proof of vaccination by october 13th to their employer. now, to be clear, this will not

include people or kids who are under the age of 12 because they can't get vaccinated. so what we don't want folks to think is a family of four that you can't go to a restaurant, you can. because we know that your children cannot be vaccinated and will not have the ability to show proof, but the parents will need to. and, this does not impact those who are coming to pick up to-go orders. a lot of folks who do the deliveries. so this won't impact that. as i said, why are we doing this? it's to protect the workers. it's to protect kids. it's to protect those who can't get vaccinated. it's to make sure we don't go backwards. it's to make sure that i never have to get up in front of you and say i'm sorry we just re-opened and now the city's closed again because we are

seeing too many people die. so to find out information about getting vaccinated go to sf.gov/vaccinated. you can call if you have any questions or need additional information, but this is an important step towards our recovery. i saw on the news hamilton just opened and people were there with smiles on their faces. underneath the mask, i saw the high cheekbones. i know you guys know what that looks like and it felt good. i don't know about you but when i went out to asia sf, the

women who performed there to be out in a city, to go to a restaurant, to see people again, there was a time we could not do this, so if we want to continue down this path if we want to make sure people are healthy to make sure we're in a good place as a city from a public health perspective so that our economy can really recover to its fullest extent, then we all have to do our part. we need to get vaccinated. we need to make sure that we are respectful to the businesses that ask us to put on our mask, or to produce your vaccination cards. we need to continue to have grace as we deal with one of

the most and count your blessings and let's make sure it isn't anyone else in the future because that's what this is about. making sure that now that we have a vaccine that we take full advantage of it because that's going to make the difference for us. and i want to thank a couple of folks here joining us including rodney fong from the san francisco chamber. thank you for being here. sharky laguana, thank you for your work and advocacy. thank you. and we have a couple of other folks joining us. i think ben blyman is going to

say a few words representing the bar owners here today. you know, it was not -- asia sf is somewhat like a bar. it's a bar, performance, food, they have it all. so it's like the perfect bar space where you get everything. anyway, ben is here to talk a little bit about that. mary ellen carol is here from the department of emergency management to answer any questions. and, i think um, who else is here? like i said, it was a long night. and, right now, i'm going to call up dr. grant cofax to talk a little bit about the specifics of our health order, what the plans are and just thank you all so much for being here and thank you all for continuing to do your very best to comply with these very complicated sometimes numerous health orders, but they will keep us safe and they will save

lives. thank you so much. well, good morning everyone. and thank you, mayor breed, for your steadfast leadership. as we continue to navigate covid-19 as a city. and thank you, janet, and visuvio for your important efforts as we recover from this pandemic. and i want to thank our acting health officer who worked hard on these orders and for director marry ellen carol for your ongoing partnership in this response. the business community has been an important partner in our efforts ever since the early days of the pandemic which is now well over a year and a half. from capacity limits to masking requirements to everything in between, you have responded and adapted to the many new ways of doing business throughout. and, for that, we thank you.

i look out at all the new outdoor dining pots and walk-ups these days and i'm so pleased to see the way san francisco has adapted and come bang to life. even in just the last few months. the difference is palpable. our ability to adapt, change and respond will service well because even as we beat back this disease. we also know that covid-19 will be with us in some capacity for the foreseeable future. we are now in a new phase of the pandemic. and even as we see a surge of cases, we have the powerful tool to fight this disease and keep ourselves and each other safe. the vaccines. let's use them. the updates to our safer return together health order are designed to make sure we can continue to keep businesses open and enjoy our lives in san francisco safely even as we

face the delta variant and other variants to come where people are at close range. breathing heavy indoors. it's simply common sense. it makes sense to require vaccinations in indoor settings where food and drink is served like restaurants and bars and where aerobic exercises happen in gyms and fitness establishments and where many people gather like at indoor venues of a thousand people or more. we believe we will continue to make a major difference in lowering the spread of covid-19 with the common sense solution of vaccines. the vaccines continue to work remarkably well especially and dramatically lowering the risk of hospitalization and death from covid-19. the vaccines are our armor. they are our life jackets.

they are parachutes. d.p.h. launched a vax to you campaign last week that will bring a mobile vaccination team to your home or business if you have at least five people ready to get the vaccine. we ask businesses to please take advantage of that and you can go to sf.gov/vaxtoyou for more information. you can continue to get the vaccine from your health care provider or at a farmee or many of our drop-in sites across the city. we are also ready and in hand to have the new tools to implement the new vax even

requirements. while today's announcement applies to these specific kinds of business, we also encourage all businesses in the city to do their part and require their employees and patrons to get vaccinated as soon as possible. for anyone who is on the fence about getting vaccinated or hasn't made the time, we very much hope that the incentive of eating at your favorite restaurant in san francisco or grabbing a drink will remove any barriers that you may have for getting vaccinated. the vaccine is safe, effective, and appointments are readily available. and, just a reminder, that even if you've already had covid-19, we in the city strongly recommend that you get fully vaccinated. thank you, and, with that, i'd like to introduce ben blyman, head of the san francisco's bar owner's alliance and an early leader in requiring vaccinations at bars and

encouraging others to join. ben, thank you. >> thank you. first of all, i'd like to say happy birthday to mayor breed. happy birthday. second of all, i just want to thank mayor breed for her leadership throughout the pandemic. for many of us, it's the worst year and a half of our professional lives and i can't say how grateful we are to have somebody in the highest leadership of san francisco who actually cares about us and doesn't just help us when it's politically expedient to do so. time and time again the mayor's shown she truly cares about our issues and is willing to go to the mat for us. thank you for that. i just wanted to call that out. about three to four weeks ago, the san francisco bar owners started to notice alarming cases of break through infections with staff members of ours. these are vaccinated individuals working in bars who

suddenly were coming down with covid, thankfully, none of the cases were serious. there were no hospitalizations but it was enough to give us pause and have a robust conversation. in that conversation, three things came up that i noticed and it was a very robust conversation. one was how scared we were for the health of our staff members. specifically, we have a lot of staff members who have young children. we have a lot of staff members who take care of elderly parents and the idea they could bring something home and put them in danger was scary for us and real. we have a sacred obligation to our staff members. we know that. we feel that way, and that was really first and foremost in our minds. the second was the impact it was having on our businesses. if somebody comes down with covid, even if they don't go to the hospital, they're out for at least ten days and we're having a staffing shortage already across the u.s., so this has a serious impact on our ability to do business. i myself had to close a bar for

a night because my bartender got covid at a different job of his and we were unable to find coverage. and the third thing that came up was the frustration that we felt as a community. for the first year of the pandemic, we were fighting an uncontrollable virus. it could be sort of managed, but it was kind of out of control and we kind of had the sense of fatalism. but that was no longer the case. and the bar owners were veryis a sievous and it was something that came up and we floated the idea what if we just don't let them inside. after a poll we did, over 80% of our membership responded that they would like to go through with that and they declared we would only allow vaccinated individuals to hang

out indoors at our establishments. in actual practice, it was a little bit of a nothing burger. if anything, almost every single person was happy about t. they were thrilled. they were thankful. they were safer. the pushback we got was online from a bunch of remarkably right wing trolls whose trolling was so bad hopefully i could teach them about how to troll correctly. that said, we've gone through with it. it works. it's helping to decrease exposure to our staff members. we know that unvaccinated individuals are eight times more likely to contract and spread coronavirus and we need to make sure that we keep them from exposing our staff and their families as much as we can. even though there wasn't much pushback, we still kind of felt like we were on an island as a group. we didn't do it thinking other people would follow.

we didn't do it to change hearts and minds. if hearts and minds do change, that's fantastic. but we did to to protect our staff and families. but the fact that san francisco is doing this now is a huge thing for us. we're not alone anymore. the city is making a bold statement if you want to participate in our society fully, if you want to be able to cough into the mouths of other people around you in closed tight areas, you must be vaccinated indoors. the fact that we're not alone is a huge benefit to us and i thank the city of san francisco for going through with this. it's a giant deal for us so thank you very much, thanks for having us. >> thank you, ben. and, thank you to all the bar owners in san francisco. thank you to the vasuvio and janet in particular for your leadership and work and advocacy. as i said, the bars did this a couple weeks ago and the city is following their lead which i

think is truly remarkable. the example that they're setting what we're doing to keep people safe is most important at this time. and, with that, i'll open it up to questions from the press.

>> this is a huge catalyst for change. >> it will be over 530,000 gross square feet plus two levels of basement. >> now the departments are across so many locations it is hard for them to work together and collaborate and hard for the customers to figure out the different locations and hours of operation. >> one of the main drivers is a one stopper mitt center for -- permit center. >> special events. we are a one stop shop for those three things. >> this has many different uses throughout if years. >> in 1940s it was coca-cola and the flagship as part of the construction project we are retaining the clock tower. the permit center is little working closely with the digital services team on how can we modernize and move away from the

paper we use right now to move to a more digital world. >> the digital services team was created in 2017. it is 2.5 years. our job is to make it possible to get things done with the city online. >> one of the reasons permitting is so difficult in this city and county is really about the scale. we have 58 different department in the city and 18 of them involve permitting. >> we are expecting the residents to understand how the departments are structured to navigate through the permitting processes. it is difficult and we have heard that from many people we interviewed. our goal is you don't have to know the department. you are dealing with the city. >> now if you are trying to get construction or special events permit you might go to 13 locations to get the permit. here we are taking 13 locations into one floor of one location

which is a huge improvement for the customer and staff trying to work together to make it easy to comply with the rules. >> there are more than 300 permitting processes in the city. there is a huge to do list that we are possessing digital. the first project is allowing people to apply online for the a.d.u. it is an accessory dwelling unit, away for people to add extra living space to their home, to convert a garage or add something to the back of the house. it is a very complicated permit. you have to speak to different departments to get it approved. we are trying to consolidate to one easy to due process. some of the next ones are windows and roofing. those are high volume permits. they are simple to issue. another one is restaurant permitting. while the overall volume is

lower it is long and complicated business process. people struggle to open restaurants because the permitting process is hard to navigate. >> the city is going to roll out a digital curing system one that is being tested. >> when people arrive they canshay what they are here to. it helps them workout which cue they neat to be in. if they rant to run anker rapid she can do that. we say you are next in line make sure you are back ready for your appointment. >> we want it all-in-one location across the many departments involved. it is clear where customers go to play. >> on june 5, 2019 the ceremony was held to celebrate the placement of the last beam on top of the structures. six months later construction is complete. >> we will be moving next

summer. >> the flu building -- the new building will be building. it was designed with light in mind. employees will appreciate these amenities. >> solar panels on the roof, electric vehicle chargers in the basement levels, benefiting from gray watery use and secured bicycle parking for 300 bicycles. when you are on the higher floors of the building you might catch the tip of the golden gate bridge on a clear day and good view of soma. >> it is so exciting for the team. it is a fiscal manifestation what we are trying to do. it is allowing the different departments to come together to issue permits to the residents. we hope people can digitally come to one website for permits.

we are trying to make it digital so when they come into the center they have a high-quality interaction with experts to guide then rather than filling in forms. they will have good conversations with our staff. >> i'm london breed and i'mf. excited to be here at sf general. with a number of people to talk about and the city plans around

climate change and thank you for being with us here today as well as state senator scott wiener and sophie maxwell and i know president walton will join us soon and today is a significant day. it's a major step for our city and towards being more independent and providing 100% renewable energy for san francisco. through clean power s.f. and hetchy power in our city we provide 70% of the power to places like general, city hall, to our schools and treasure island and other locations throughout san francisco and i remember in 2012 or 2013 and senator wiener would remember how important clean power was to the people of the district i

represented and so he and i worked very closely to fight to push san francisco in a direction where we finally rolled out a clean power program and in fact we worked to make sure that clean power program was provided to the residents of the bayview hunters community community first. the district that supervisor maxwell used to representative, because of many of the environmental injustice that's had occurred but more importantly, because we know it's possible. why do we need to continue to wait? why do we need to continue to be subjected to fossil fuel? is that are destroying san francisco and destroying our planet. we can't just be about instant gratification and what we see before us, we have this by will the future and what's being proposed in this world