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. >> he is a real leader that listens and knows how to bring people together. brought this department together like never before. i am so excited to be swearing in the next chief of the san

francisco fire department, ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome, jeanine nicholson. (applause). >> i grew up total tomboy, athlete. i loved a good crisis, a good challenge. i grew up across the street from the fire station. my dad used to take me there to vote. i never saw any female firefighters because there weren't any in the 1970s. i didn't know i could be a fire fighter. when i moved to san francisco in 1990, some things opened up. i saw women doing things they hadn't been doing when i was

growing up. one thing was firefighting. a woman recruited me at the gay-pride parade in 1991. it was a perfect fit. i liked using my brain, body, working as a team, figuring things out, troubleshooting and coming up with different ways to solve a problem. in terms of coming in after another female chief, i don't think anybody says that about men. you are coming in after another man, chief, what is that like. i understand why it is asked. it is unusual to have a woman in this position. i think san francisco is a trailblazer in that way in terms of showing the world what can happen and what other people who may not look like what you think the fire chief should look like how they can be successful. be asked me about being the

first lbgq i have an understands because there are little queer kids that see me. i worked my way up. i came in january of 1994. i built relationships over the years, and i spent 24 years in the field, as we call it. working out of firehouses. the fire department is a family. we live together, eat together, sleep in the same dorm together, go to crazy calls together, dangerous calls and we have to look out for one another. when i was burned in a fire years ago and i felt responsible, i felt awful. i didn't want to talk to any of my civilian friends. they couldn't understand what i was going through. the firefighters knew, they understood. they had been there. it is a different relationship. we have to rely on one another.

in terms of me being the chief of the department, i am really trying to maintain an open relationship with all of our members in the field so myself and my deputy chiefs, one of the priorities i had was for each of us to go around to different fire stations to make sure we hit all within the first three or four months to start a conversation. that hasn't been there for a while. part of the reason that i am getting along well with the field now is because i was there. i worked there. people know me and because i know what we need. i know what they need to be successful. >> i have known jeanine nicholson since we worked together at station 15. i have always held her in the highest regard. since she is the chief she has

infused the department with optimism. she is easy to approach and is concerned with the firefighters and paramedics. i appreciate that she is concerned with the issues relevant to the fire department today. >> there is a retired captain who started the cancer prevention foundation 10 years ago because he had cancer and he noticed fellow firefighters were getting cancer. he started looking into it. in 2012 i was diagnosed with breast canner, and some of my fellow firefighters noticed there are a lot of women in the san francisco fire department, premenopausal in their 40s getting breast cancer. it was a higher rate than the general population. we were working with workers comp to make it flow more easily for our members so they didn't

have to worry about the paper work when they go through chemo. the turnout gear was covered with suit. it was a badge to have that all over your coat and face and helmet. the dirtier you were the harder you worked. that is a cancer causeser. it -- casser. it is not -- cancer causer. there islassic everywhere. we had to reduce our exposure. we washed our gear more often, we didn't take gear where we were eating or sleeping. we started decontaminating ourselves at the fire scene after the fire was out. going back to the fire station and then taking a shower. i have taught, worked on the

decontamination policy to be sure that gets through. it is not if or when. it is who is the next person. it is like a cancer sniper out there. who is going to get it next. one of the things i love about the fire department. it is always a team effort. you are my family. i love the city and department and i love being of service. i vow to work hard -- to work hard to carry out the vision of the san francisco fire department and to move us forward in a positive way. if i were to give a little advice to women and queer kids, find people to support you. keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep trying.

you never know what door is going to open next. you really don't. [cheers and >> good afternoon, everyone. good afternoon. [speaking in foreign languages]