all right everyone. hi, i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i want to thank you all for joining us today. i want to give a shout out to the folks vax to max. i want to thank you for hanging out and trying to get people to vaccinate because i know you want to go back to school quickly. i don't know about you, but when i was a kid, i wasn't pushing to go back to school on

any given day and clearly our children need to be back in school. and part of making sure they're back in school, making sure they're safe. making sure our communities are safe is important for us to do our part and this is how everyone can do their part is at least get vaccinated. in san francisco, about 84% of san franciscans have received at least their first dose of the vaccine, but sadly, with the african american community, that's about 64%. with the latino community, it's at about 74%. and we need to make sure that those communities are getting the vaccine because what we're seeing with almost 100 people now in the hospital that most of those folks are african american and latino. and so it's important to us because also, the other issue is that most of the people who are in the hospital, i think dr. colfax has the specifics, but they've not been

vaccinated. so even if, you know, i as a vaccinated person gets a vaccine, if i get the and the fact is that person can get sick and end up in the hospital and that person can potentially day. this really is a matter of life or death. i understand people have concerns. and i understand that people are frustrated with the mask mandates and all the other requirements. i get it. this has been tough and it's been a long time, but as i have said time and time again just because we are tired of the vaccine -- i mean, just because we are tired of covid-19, just because we are tired of all the rules and regulations and being told what to do, just because we are sick of it, doesn't mean it's sick of us. it's not gone because we want it to be gone. so what this means is we have to do even more and as a

result, we have decided to take our case to the public in a different way. if you have at least five to twelve people who want to be vaccinated, we will bring our doctors and nurses and equipment and other resources to you. all you have to do is go sf.gov/vaxtoyou. so we'll provide you all with that information. it's important that we make it as easy as possible. there are a number of pop-up locations in the mission. we are trying to make this as easy as possible. and we know and vaccines

specifically in the african american community. the fact is we're at a different time where we really need to focus on saving lives. we've not even had six hundred deaths even in one of the densest cities in the last 15 months because of this virus. if we go at the rate that we're going, we expect within a couple of weeks according to dr. colfax to lose at least 300 people. that's why we've had to put together the appropriate vaccine outreach team as well as mandatory mask indoors even for those who are vaccinated. the last thing we need that's

the easiest thing you could do to support one another. we should be so proud. san francisco's a dense city and we had one of the lowest death rates. we all came together in the beginning of this pandemic. we took care of our neighbors. we went we got that last hurdle l, that last stretch. it's like the nineth inning and we just need one more hit out the ball park. and if we all just roll up our sleeves and start to get vaccinated even though we have

concerns, we're doing it for our fellow san franciscans. and, so with that, i want to turn it over to dr. grant colfax. >> good afternoon everybody and thank you, mayor breed for your ongoing leadership during this pandemic. i want to thank chiba piano lounge for sponsoring this. and, of course, the amazing dph team, the mobile team led by dr. mary mercer. just remarkable work. we have 77% of eligible san franciscans now fully vaccinated in our city. so this is a remarkable achievement and, i think while the next few weeks will be very challenging and we're seeing covid-19 increase dramatically in our city, it's very important to remember that hundreds if not thousands of lives have been saved. we're in a much better place

than during the fall and winter surge because people are vaccinated. because these vaccines work. because they keep you out of the hospital. because they are saving lives as we speak. if you are not vaccinated in san francisco. this is not a good time to be vaccinated. the delta variant is here. it accounts for more than 90% of our cases now. and it is a highly transmissible and there's emerging evidence that it's more likely that you would end up in the hospital compared to the virus we were dealing with just a few months ago. this is covid on steroids. the difference now between being vaccinated and not getting vax if you do get covid-19, it could be -- if you're vaccinated versus not vaccinated, it could be the difference between spending a

few days in your bed at home, versus spending a few weeks in an i.c.u. bed. very important that people get vaccinated. we know that the health officers across the region, recently instituted an indoormandate effective today. that is a temporary measure to decrease the spread of the virus. we were at just twelve cases of covid-19 just a few weeks ago in late may and early june. now we're over 200 a day. we need to continue to slow the spread. do our part. we will bring the vaccine it to you. the mayor just announced this. we're doing everything we can. we will work with you. we will get the team there, let's max the vax across the city. 77% more to go. we're doing everything we can to get people vaccinated. the vaccines continue our way out. these next few weeks are going to be challenging.

the best protection is the vaccine, the masking, and telling your friends, your family members, your community members get vaccinated today. thank you. >> any questions about the vaccine related stuff? >> if i had told me in my family, would you come to my house? >> yes. we can do that and we've already been doing that. so people can sign up and we will be there. >> can people come up and say, hey, i live outside san francisco, it's going to take a long time for me to make an appointment. >> we're really focusing on san francisco's residents at this point to try to get those numbers up and we're coordinating with other counties. so i think if people have other questions, we can put them in touch with the local health department to make sure they get vaccinated as well. >> i'm wondering if you can talk about zuckerberg sf general and the decisions of the supplemental costs of those

getting johnson and johnson shots. [inaudible] mrna pfizer. >> so i just want to make it really clear, we have not changed our policy as a health department and as a city with regard to following cdc guidelines for administering vaccines. if people have received a johnson and johnson and are requesting a second shot, we will accommodate them, but our policy has not changed nor has it changed at zuckerberg general hospital. >> have there been studies on that? >> yes. so in consultation with infectious disease experts, the decision was made again. if people are requesting a second shot after johnson and johnson, we will accommodate that, be but we're not changing our policy at this point. >> any indication it does

improve the efficacy of the johnson and johnson shot? >> i think the important thing is right now we don't have conclusive data on additional shots beyond what the cdc is recommending. but, again, in consultation with infectious disease experts, we do think this is safe and accommodate people if they so request. >> break through cases, are they mostly people who have been vaccinated with johnson and johnson or why johnson and johnson? >> so i think really the key point is that break through cases remain relatively rare compared to people who are not vaccinated. that's really important. all these vaccines are incredibly effective in terms of reducing the risk of hospitalization. and, again, we're continuing to follow cdc guidelines whether they are the mrna or johnson and johnson vaccines. accommodating people and are requesting an additional shot. but the break through infections, i think really, i understand the focus on break through infections here, but i think it really misses the big

picture. the key reason we did the indoor mask mandate and so forth is because we need to get more people quickly vaccinated as soon as possible. that includes the johnson and johnson mrna vaccine. we will follow cdc recommendations going forward. >> are you still administering the j&j? >> absolutely. it's a good vaccine. and we will continue to administer it. we have lots of vaccines available. if people want the mrna vaccine, we will do that. we have the menu and it's available. >> what would you say to people who are tired of wearing masks and being [inaudible] ? >> well, i'm disappointed that the health office, i'm sorry that we had to go to indoor masking as well. it's the right thing to do in terms of where we are right now. especially, our projections are showing cases are going to continue to increase through this month and early september, so we really need to slow down

the transmission. what i would say if you're tired of wearing a mask, if you're not vaccinated, for god's sake get vaccinated and get your family and friends vaccinated. >> had is there an now that this delta variant is surging and it is so much more contagious, a lot of those sites, they've shut down? >> so we're continuing to work with our other health partners across the city to ensure there's adequate testing for people. d.p.h. has been doing over 40% of the tests that have been administered. so just to emphasize that piece working with kaiser and c.p.m.c. but we're exploring a number of possibles. we know that compared to where we were, there's a lot more home testing available. so we're encouraging people to use that and talking to our partners about expanding testing options in the future. and at the health department, our testing focus remains in

our clinics for the skilled nursing facilities and shelters. those are really key areas where we're going to continue to support testing. >> a lot of people are excited to get an appointment online. what would you say in terms of wait times and is the city considering those mask mandates [inaudible] ? >> so, again, we're looking at options to potentially expand testing and encouraging our other partners, kaiser to expand testing and we have drop-in testing as well. we have pop-up testing where covid-19 is most prevalent. so if those drop-in sites where people can literally walk in, you can still get tested on a drop-in basis. >> roughly 5,000 tests are being done a day. where do you expect to see that number -- where do you want to see that number? >> yeah. i think testing is obviously an

ongoing key issue for us to support cross the city. i don't want testing to distract us from the need to get fully vaccinated. i'm hoping we can mitigate some of the wait times. i expect those to unfortunately continue to go up. you know, we're down to fewer than 2,000 tests a day, now we're at 5,000. if we expand up to 9,000 a day, we're going to continue the need to expand. and/or to use those home testing kits and use the kaiser ucsf and other health care systems in addition to look at what the health department has available. >> the city is spending more resources on these mobile vaccination sites. >> well, the vaccine because it's more complex, we will have always spent more resources because testing is a little bit

easier. we are going to continue to look at the ability to expand. we can do both things at the same time. but we're at a different stature now. so we need to do both things well at the same time. >> can you expect restrictions here in the city and if businesses were to require that you be vaccinated in order to enter that business, would the city approve that? >> yeah. we're very supportive of businesses and other entities requiring proof of vaccination for people to enter the premises. >> and, now, new york city is doing that. they're talking about they want restaurants and venues and fitness centers proof of vaccination. at least is the city considering taking that step? >> we're exploring that. again, right now, we've seen that a number of bars and restaurants and other entities are doing that and we're very supportive of that and

encouraging people to take advantage of that policy with regard to showing proof of vaccination at these entities. >> one more question. what goes into deciding if san francisco wants vaccine mandates like new york city. like why not yet? >> well, i just think we're exploring the pieces right now. again, i think that the good news is that san francisco businesses were one of the first in the country as far as i know to adopt this voluntarily. and i think it's really trying to determine, you know, in working with various entities is there a need to implement policies similar to new york's or is this going to happen more on the basis of what's being driven in the community. i think we saw that in other situations with the pandemic as well is people, communities are adapting the practices that they know slow the transmission. so we're exploring that. the thank you. >> what do you say about the people that are afraid about

the side effects of the vaccine and that's why they don't want to take it? >> yeah. we know and there have been millions of people in the united states these vaccines are incredible safe. look who's dying of covid-19 right now, it's people who are unvaccinated. these vaccines work, they're safe and effective. thank you. so i want to thank ned and israel from chiba lounge for hosting us today. are there any other questions related to the vaccine? all right. any other questions in general? >> [inaudible] >> well, what i want to start by saying is the stipulation that i signed with the ethics

commission after having numerous discussions, i feel is fair, we worked out an agreement with the staff to address some of the challenges that we are listed in the stipulation and in particular, there were mistakes made. i take full responsibility for those mistakes and i've learned a lot since becoming mayor and being in office and as i said in my statement, i made it clear that at no time have any of the things related to this stipulation had any impact on the decisions that i've made as mayor. and, my hope is that over time, i've been able to prove that and overtime, moving forward, i'll be able to continue to approve that. >> [inaudible] >> well, i hope that the work that i've done and addressing one of the most challenging times in our city's history which is not directly related to the challenges that exist in the stipulation. i would hope that my record and what i've done over the past

couple of years will make a difference as well as the work that i'm -- that i do moving forward. i mean, it's difficult because, you know, people may look at this, of course, and feel a certain kind of way. i can't completely control that. i can only make sure that i do exactly what a leader in this city should do. when you make a mistake. you step up, you take responsibility for your action. you put it all out there and you hope that people will look at it and realize that, you know, you're human just like anybody else and the goal is to make sure that i completely make it clear to the public that at no time in any of these, you know, challenges that existed that, you know, i allowed any of this to impact the decisions that i've made in running the city and it's going to take some time to demonstrate and ensure the public that my goal is to lead

this city, to continue to do my job and at no time have i ever allowed any of these issues to interfere with the decisions that i make in this office and i will continue to do that. >> did you believe you were doing anything wrong at the time [inaudible] the letter heads regarding the letter for your brother or [inaudible] and do you recognize that those things --? >> at the time that i did them, no i did not. >> and now? >> and, now i do understand that they are a problem and i will be doing things differently. for example, the event, the pride parade in san francisco, i've always had a float during the pride parade, it's just the way that it was covered during this time period was different that how i had covered it before and so i realize that that was problematic even though this is -- the pride parade is not a campaign event, it's not -- it's a civic occasion. it's a way in which mayor and public elected officials all

participate, but i've always had a float and in this particular case, there was a mistake made and so we're correcting that mistake. okay. any more questions? all right. thank you. is -- >> our united states constitution requires every ten years that america counts every human being in the united states, which is incredibly important for many reasons. it's important for preliminary representation because if -- political representation because if we under count california, we get less representatives in congress.

it's important for san francisco because if we don't have all of the people in our city, if we don't have all of the folks in california, california and san francisco stand to lose billions of dollars in funding. >> it's really important to the city of san francisco that the federal government gets the count right, so we've created count sf to motivate all -- sf count to motivate all citizens to participate in the census.

>> for the immigrant community, a lot of people aren't sure whether they should take part, whether this is something for u.s. citizens or whether it's something for anybody who's in the united states, and it is something for everybody. census counts the entire population. >> we've given out $2 million to over 30 community-based organizations to help people do the census in the communities where they live and work. we've also partnered with the public libraries here in the city and also the public schools to make sure there are informational materials to make sure the folks do the census at those sites, as well, and we've initiated a campaign to motivate the citizens and make sure they participate in census 2020. because of the language issues that many chinese community and families experience, there is a

lot of mistrust in the federal government and whether their private information will be kept private and confidential. >> so it's really important that communities like bayview-hunters point participate because in the past, they've been under counted, so what that means is that funding that should have gone to these communities, it wasn't enough. >> we're going to help educate people in the tenderloin, the multicultural residents of the tenderloin. you know, any one of our given blocks, there's 35 different languages spoken, so we are the original u.n. of san francisco. so it's -- our job is to educate people and be able to familiarize themselves on doing this census. >> you go on-line and do the

census. it's available in 13 languages, and you don't need anything. it's based on household. you put in your address and answer nine simple questions. how many people are in your household, do you rent, and your information. your name, your age, your race, your gender. >> everybody is $2,000 in funding for our child care, housing, food stamps, and medical care. >> all of the residents in the city and county of san francisco need to be counted in census 2020. if you're not counted, then your community is underrepresented and will be underserved.

>> 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]

[speaking foreign language] [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪]

>> 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. >> it was an outdoor stadium for track and field, motorcycle and auto and rugby and cricket located in golden gate park, home to professional football, lacross and soccer. adjacent to the indoor arena.

built in the 1920s. the san francisco park commission accepted a $100,000 gift from the estate to build a memorial in honor of pioneers in the area. the city and county of san francisco contributed an additional $200,000 and the stadium was built in a year. in the 1930s it was home to several colleges such as usf, santa clara and st. mary's for competition and sporting. in 1946 it became home to the san francisco 49ers where they played nearly 25 years. the stayed de yam sat 60,000 fans. many caught game the rooftops and houses. the niners played the last game against the dallas cowboys january 3, 1971 before moving to candlestick park. the stadium hosted other events before demolition in 1989.

it suffered damages from the earthquake. it was reconstructed to seat 10,000 fans with an all weather track, soccer field and scoreboards. it hosts many northern california football championship games. local high schools sacred heart and mission high school used the field for home games. the rivalry football games are sometimes played here. today it is a huge free standing element, similar to the original featuring tall pink columns at the entrance. the field is surrounded by the track and used by high school and college football and soccer. it is open for public use as well.

>> the regular meeting of the board of education of the san francisco unified school district for august 24, 2021 is now called to order. roll call, please. >> clerk: thank you. [roll call]